Elemental Pretty Cure
by D.K.N
Summary: Cheery and friendly teen Elizabeth "Betty" Starr loves helping people and making friends, and has a simple life. Little did she know she would get sucked into something far bigger than she ever thought possible. Now, she and her friends must combine their powers to defend the world, as the legendary warriors, the Elemental Pretty Cures! An original work, unconnected to 'Travels'.
1. A Starr Is Born

So... We've finally been given a release window for Kingdom Hearts 3, but it's next year. Granted, I do have an idea for another Travels Book, but before I do it I need to find sites where I can safely (as in, no risk of pop-ups, spyware/malware, trojans/viruses, etc.) watch DokiDoki PreCure, Happiness Charge PreCure, Go Princess PreCure, and Mahoutsukai PreCure. Until I can find that, _Teana's Travels_ is still adrift.

In the meantime, though, I'm going to try this - a Pretty Cure fic unrelated to _Teana's Travels_ , with an original story rather than adapting any existing PreCure teams. I'll admit, this doesn't look like it's gonna be my best work, but it's at least _something_ to occupy you guys and me while I seek for ways to safely watch those four PreCure seasons. And 'purists', please don't raise a stink over this being a Pretty Cure series that takes place in the U.S., rather than in Japan; I have something planned later in.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the _Pretty Cure_ franchise, which is the creation and (I presume) property of Toei Animation; this is a work of fan-fiction, created without any profit or any attempt to violate anything.

-X-

A chilly winter wind blew through the small city, the sun partially shining through the scattered pale-grey clouds. As the people moved about, doing this or that, no-one noticed a lone figure weakly flitting through the air, exhausted and wounded. The little sprite collapsed in the shadows in an alley, gasping for breath.

"Have to… find them…" she whispered out. "The legendary…"

-X-

A girl about 15 or 16 years of age strolled down the hall of the small high-school she went to, humming softly with a spring in her step as she joined the mass of students heading for the exits to start their journey home for the day. Elizabeth Starr, known as 'Betty' by pretty much everyone, was a peppy, cheery girl, full of life and light and loving to brighten up wherever she went; she loved making friends, and was known to call friendship "the greatest of treasures". She was pretty average in height and build, with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes, along with youthful features that fit well with her personality; despite her endless optimism, nobody really bullied her because anyone who tried couldn't help but feel bad about themselves due to how pathetic she looked when sad.

As she walked along, Betty took note of some of her classmates moving in the same group as her toward the exit: Vicky, the extroverted and kind-hearted athlete; Danny, the 'average' boy trying to get through life without causing any fuss; Amelia, the spacy girl who liked to make people laugh; Courtney, the spoiled 'daddy's girl' who nonetheless tried to treat 'poorer' people nicely; Paula, the calm and steady girl who made sure people stayed down-to-earth; Selena, the caring and maternal girl, generous with advice and other little things; Rick & Jamal, the 'bad boys' who never actually did anything bad; 'Dusk', the new transfer student girl who already got amazing grades but was always silent and stoic, never interacting with anyone… The school had some characters in it, that was for sure.

Betty took a deep breath as she stepped out into the cool late-January air, bade goodbye to her friends and started her trek home. As she made her way through the city, pulling her coat close to keep warm, she suddenly heard a ruckus of some sort from a nearby alley. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she snuck into the alley, taking a hiding spot behind a dumpster and peeking out from behind, to see something very strange indeed.

A tiny figure flitted through the air, looking like a person, a girl, shrunk down to half a foot in size, with long pink hair held in two low-hanging tails and a pair of shining butterfly-like translucent wings. Betty stifled a gasp – a fairy? An honest-to-god, straight-outta-Disney _fairy_?! And she was in trouble, visibly exhausted and injured, being chased by a pair of evil-looking little troll-like things with perpetually grumpy-looking faces, while the whole affair was watched over by a man with an average build & height, short black hair, and an unassuming face… other than the fact that the whites of his eyes were almost-black gray; he wore something that sorta looked like a suit, with a spade symbol (like from cards) on the chest.

Finally, the little fairy made a mistake, and yelped as she was grasped tightly in one of the little troll-things' hands, her weakened struggles failing to break her free. The man strolled over with a bored expression, conjuring a small silver birdcage which the little troll-thing promptly shoved the fairy into.

"About time" the man remarked. "You two, guard the cage while I contact the boss."

The two troll-things nodded, taking position, while the man walked up to a nearby brick wall and waved his hand. Betty stifled a gasp as a swirling black oval appeared; on the other side, it was pure blackness, but for a pair of glowing eyes gazing out.

" ** _Black Spade?_** " a deep, imposing voice issued forth. " ** _Do you have something to report?_** "

"Yes, my king" the man now known as Black Spade replied. "I and the two Grumps I came here with have captured the little sprite."

" ** _Well done. And what of the other task I set out for you – a way to finish tearing down the barrier between worlds so that all of our forces may pass through at once and lay siege to the human world? At the moment we can only send a few at a time, excepting the Grumps – we can't conquer an entire world with that._** "

The man looked a little chagrinned. "That one is proving to be… a little more difficult."

Betty was deeply shocked – these people(?) were planning to attack and conquer the _world_?! And their presence felt… wrong to her, somehow, especially this mystery leader guy; his voice sent a cold chill down her spine. As Black Spade and his master talked, Betty's gaze shifted to the little caged fairy, curled up and looking depressed and exhausted. The 'Grumps' standing by her cage were eavesdropping on their masters' conversation, their attention off the cage they were supposed to be guarding. …This was a chance. Betty could help, even if just in a small way. As quietly as she could, she snuck up behind them on her hands & knees, nearing the cage. The little fairy rose her head, and her eyes widened upon seeing Betty, who hurriedly held her finger up to her lips in a shushing gesture. Slowly, carefully, she reached a hand out and gently undid the lock on the little cage's door, which she then swung open. The fairy silently limped out, until Betty gently grabbed her and put her up on her shoulder. Betty then slowly backed away and quietly got up to her feet, preparing to flee.

"-really not sure how to go about it" Black Spade was saying. "I mean, it's not as if the solution will just pop into our la-"

" ** _Spade!_** "

The dark king's shout was accompanied by the glowing evil eyes' gaze shifting… looking right at Betty and the fairy. Black Spade and the Grumps followed their king's gaze, and Betty let out a frightened little squeak and started running as fast as she could.

"Damn it!" Black Spade growled. "Grumps, after her!"

" ** _No! …Send a Vish after her instead…_** "

After a second's surprise, Black Spade nodded, and reached out with his magical senses. Fairly close by, he found a good source – a man walking along the street near the alleyway's far entrance, stewing in jealousy and frustration over some trivial thing. Black Spade suddenly appeared in the man's path, and the man barely had time to react in shock before he felt a sudden emotionally-drained feeling… and heard a rumbling growl…

"The girl with the fairy," Black Spade spoke to his new monster, "they went that way. Find them, crush the girl, bring the fairy back alive if possible; if not… well, if not, I'll understand…"

-X-

Betty panted for breath as she took position hiding in the bushes behind a restroom building at the local public park. "Y-You okay?" she asked the fairy.

"I will be" the little sprite replied. "Thank you so much. My name is Pixee."

"Betty. Well, Elizabeth, but everyone calls me Betty. What's going on? Who are those guys? And what are you doing here?"

"For lack of anything else to call them, they're known as the Dark Kingdom, ruled by figures known only as the King and Queen of Darkness; no-one really knows where they came from. I came here seeking the legendary warriors foretold in a prophecy to stop the Dark Kingdom and protect the worlds. They mainly use monsters made from people's negative emotions, called Vishes. …Yeah, I know, bad pun; I don't know if it's intentional."

"Negative emotions?"

"Anger, hate, frustration, jealousy, loneliness, guilt, regret, sadness… If a person has any of those things, the Dark Kingdom can extract a 'shadow' of it to make into a big monster. Plus, they've got a horde of Grumps for basic grunt work – pathetic on their own, but dangerous in big numbers. Leading them are the Black Card Quartet – Black Club, Black Diamond, Black Heart, and the guy you just saw, Black Spade. Above _them_ are the King and Queen of Darkness, who seek to conquer all worlds, enshroud everything in darkness, crush all resistance and rule over the beaten survivors with iron fists…"

"H-How awful… What do we do now?"

"All we can really do right now is run and hide, and pray that any of the legendary warriors from the prophecy show up. Legends say they're called the 'Pretty Cures', or 'PreCures' for short – a small group of legendary heroines who wield elemental powers to keep the forces of evil at bay. I've been looking for any hints of their presence, but for now I've seen no signs of anything."

"…I'll help you. I don't know how much good I'll be, but… you seem like a good person. So, I'll help you however I can, Pixee."

The little fairy looked touched by Betty earnest vow. But then, the touching moment was rudely interrupted as a huge foot came down on the bushes Betty & Pixee were hiding behind, crushing the shrubbery and scaring the daylights out of them both. Betty's eyes went wide in shock and instinctual terror as she looked up at the 'Vish'. It was around 12 feet tall, humanoid in shape, with blocky legs supporting a big, rotund body, a pair of big beefy muscly arms, and an odd-shaped head with the only facial features a pair of big, angry-looking eyes.

" _VIIIISH!-!-!_ " it roared as it brought a huge fist down, aimed to pound the human into mulch.

Betty let out a strangled squeal of terror as she threw herself out of the way, she and Pixee barely avoiding being crushed. The Vish continued making attacks, trying to punch or stomp, with Betty frantically dodging and trying to run. She managed to slip between the Vish's legs and make a run for an exit path, only to be stopped when the monster picked up and threw a boulder the size of a car, making it land right in her path, bringing her to a screeching halt and trapping her as the monster drew near.

As Pixee cowered, a look of fright and despair on her little face, Betty stood her ground. She was terrified, but…

"I… I won't let you get her. I won't abandon my new friend!"

The Vish growled and charged, lashing out with a skeleton-shattering punch. Suddenly, a point of brilliant pink light came into being directly in front of Betty, and a shimmering pink translucent barrier formed, the Vish's fist bouncing off, the monster sent staggering back off-balance. Betty stared in wonder was the shimmering pink light slowly floated in front of her, and in the center a sparkling pink gemstone about an inch & a half across, perfectly smooth and spherical, took form. A second later, another spark of light formed into a small, heart-shaped brooch, pink and gold, with a slot in the middle just the right size to fit the gem. Betty was in awe, feeling warmth and light flowing around her, and somehow she knew: this would let her protect her friend. Feeling like she was doing something instinctive, she took hold of the objects, and brilliant pink light enveloped her.

(TRANSFORMATION THEME: _Happiness Charge_ – Rolling Mirror Change)

With a whirl of pink light and motes of magic, Betty found herself in a space of swirling colors and hues of pink, clad in a shimmering pale-pink dress-like garment of magic. With one hand she brandished the little brooch, and the other she held the shining pink gem between her fingertips. "PreCure!" She slotted the gem into the brooch. "Elements Charge!-!"

She slammed the brooch into the center of her chest, and as the device seemed to vanish in a burst of light, pink magical light formed into the first part of a 'uniform' on her torso – an outfit mostly pink with some white, with dark-pink lining, short sleeves with frilly hems, a white-lined pink bow in the center of the chest with a dark-pink gem in the center, and a mid-thigh-length pink skirt with white hem.

She spun around, catching a pair of balls of pink magic in her hands, and then brought her hands together with a clap over her head, causing the magic to 'pop' and rapidly envelop her hands and forearms; with a sparkly flash, it formed into a pair of matching gloves that went halfway up her forearms, white with pink lining and circular pink gems on the backs of the hands. She then pulled a jumping backflip into the air; at the height of it, with her feet pointing upwards, they kicked into and through two more masses of pink light, which wrapped around them. When she landed, twin sparks of light accompanied her feet and lower legs being clad in a pair of white boots with two little pink hearts on the toes.

Above her head, pink light coalesced into a golden headband with little pink diamond-shaped gems in a row along the top. She grabbed it and put it on her head, and her reddish-brown hair glowed with light as it changed to golden-blonde with pink highlights, and her brown eyes changed to bright-pink. One last chunk of magical light flew into her lower back, forming a largish light-pink bow just above her skirt. She struck a pose, one hand pulled back in a fist by her side and the other out and slightly up at an angle across her chest.

"Shining light, leading toward the future!" She stood straight, one arm held high as if reaching for the sun. "Cure Gleam!-!"

(END)

As the flash of pink light faded, Pixee stared in disbelieving awe at the brand new Pretty Cure standing before her. After a few seconds, the transformed Betty's serious expression changed to one of shock and confusion.

"Eh? _Ehh?!_ W-W-What is this?! This outfit! This hair! I… I transformed?! Like in an anime?! And… And I feel so much _power_ inside me!"

"Y-You…" Pixee spoke up. "You're one of the warriors of prophecy… You're a Pretty Cure!"

"I'm… a-a magical girl… PreCure…"

Tired of waiting, the Vish took this moment to charge. Cure Gleam squeaked in surprise and leapt back to dodge… and screamed as she found herself _way_ up in the air. As she began to fall, she thought fast and grabbed hold of a streetlight pole, swinging around it a couple of times and then launching off to land on top of a tree, balancing on a high branch. Catching her breath, she leapt down onto a smaller tree, and from there down to the ground, panting lightly from the rush.

The Vish charged again, making a heavy but slow punch. Cure Gleam slid around the blow, grabbed hold of the monster's wrist with both arms, and with a short cry she judo-flipped the huge monster over, slamming its back into the ground hard enough to rattle the windows of a nearby public restroom. The Vish rolled back onto its feet, but couldn't get out of the way of Gleam's incoming punch, her fist glowing with pink power as she drove it into the monster's gut (or what passed for it, anyway), sending the beast hurtling back several meters. Groaning, the Vish got back to its feet and fired a large orb of Darkness energy at Cure Gleam, who instinctively thrust her hands forward to block… and formed a large, shimmering translucent barrier of pink Light magic that not only blocked the blast, but ricocheted it right back at the Vish, slamming into it and detonating, sending it tumbling again and doing even more damage.

"It's weakened!" Pixee shouted. "Finish it off with your special attack!"

Cure Gleam steadied her stances as words, actions, and energies came to her. She held her hands in front of her chest, fingers spread and linked to form a rough circle in front of the little central pink gem in the middle of her chest bow. Pink light rapidly coalesced in her hands. "PreCure! _Sparkling Shot!-!_ "

She thrusted her hands forward, releasing a second-long burst of pink Light-type magic as big across as she was tall. Engulfed by the power, the Vish let out one last fading roar as it was obliterated, fading away into motes of deep-purple light that quickly winked out.

"We did it!" Pixee cheered, as Cure Gleam let out a "phew…"

"So, now what?" the new PreCure asked.

"Well, I suppose I should give you a little more detail. But not here. Should we head to your house?"

The human nodded, as she de-transformed with a flash of pink light. "My parents are both at work right now. Come on."

-X-

Betty sat on her bed in her room, as Pixee – still slowly mending her own wounds with healing magic – was going over the explanation she'd given earlier, with a bit more detail.

"The prophecy mentioned a _team_ of PreCures, not just one" she said. "We should be on the lookout for anyone who might be another Cure. Until then, however, I think we'll be on our own. Sorry that you've been caught up in all this, Elizabeth…"

The girl shook her head. "It's okay. I admit, I'm kinda overwhelmed and a bit scared, but… This is something super-important, and it's something only I can do. So, I'll do my best to make it work, to help you find the others, and to help protect my world! …Plus, I'm a _magical girl_! This is _so cool~!-!_ "

-X-

In another 'space', Black Spade knelt before the two figures seated on what looked to be thrones made of black crystal.

"Your Majesties," he reported, "we have encountered an obstacle. A Pretty Cure has been 'born'."

"So the 'warriors of prophecy' are indeed coming…" the Queen of Darkness mused. "Inform the other members of the quartet to make ready, and ramp up production of Grumps."

"Surely," the Dark King mused, "these 'Cures' of prophecy will prove to be the most powerful enemy our little empire has ever faced." He gave a wicked grin. "But in time, even they will fall before our might. This should be _interesting_ …"

-X-

Well, there's the start of things. We'll be meeting the other Cures soon; each Cure will get a different transformation theme, if you're wondering. And we just might see an unexpected crossing later on...


	2. Shock And Awe

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMER**

- ** _CHAPTER START-_**

The next day, as she sat in class and waited for the teacher to get back from the restroom, Betty focused her mind and her energies to use the new little trick that becoming a PreCure had granted her and Pixee was helping her refine: empathy – the ability to sense the emotions of others around her. And what's better, it wasn't on all the time, which would probably be overwhelming; it was something she had to actively think about to have active.

Right now, from the various other students around her, she could sense lots of things: some boredom, casual cheer from two girls talking with each other, a bit of lust, and… whoa. She discreetly turned her gaze to the lone girl sitting by the window, gazing out through it with apparent boredom. 'Dusk' was a new girl, a transfer student who showed up when Christmas break ended. Nobody really knew anything about her; even her 'name' was a fake one, and only the principal knew her real one, apparently keeping it secret at her request. She was quiet and solitary, never really interacting with anyone, though she got good grades and was fairly athletic. She did get some attention due to her looks – a slim but shapely build, breasts in the upper range amongst the class, bright teal eyes, and slightly-wavy red hair with blonde streaks in it – but she never responded to any attempts to compliment or make conversation with her.

And right now, Betty could 'see' that Dusk was in a constant state of lonely, morose sadness, with a hint of bitterness mixed in. Why was 'Dusk', so… so in pain, Betty realized? What had happened to her? Was it related to why she had suddenly transferred in from, supposedly, another school quite a distance away? Seeing all that lonely sadness, Betty felt a need to help this girl. But how?

Betty was distracted from wondering about 'Dusk', pulled out of her thoughts, by two other students starting to squabble over in the far corner. Two girls were _trying_ to keep their little argument down to whispers, but it was still enough to draw attention. Before it could get worse, however, a tall girl with platinum-blonde hair and blue eyes – Selena Acionna – walked up to the pair, a calm smile on her face. Betty couldn't hear well what was being said, but she watched as Selena calmly, expertly defused the conflict, getting the two other girls to let go of their anger and make peace. Betty really as amazed; Selena was known for easily mediating and breaking up fights, cooling heads and easing hostilities. Even the teachers had praised her ability to calm people down and get them to stop arguing.

"'Ey, Betty!"

Betty turned away from the incident on the far side of the room as someone sat next to her: her friend…

"Vicky~!"

Victoria Dare, a slim and lean-muscled girl with shoulder-length dull-blonde hair and deep-green eyes, was one of Betty Starr's closest friends. Vicky was an exuberant, energetic girl, into physical activity and sports. She was also a very kind-hearted girl who liked to help people, often taking it upon herself to guide new students around until they got their bearings, and in general doing little things to help others; naturally, she got along wonderfully with the friendly, cheerful Betty.

"Hey, Vee?" Betty started.

"Yeah, Bee?"

"I was wondering if… you had any ideas of what sports or workouts I could try out on the side if I wanna get a bit more in shape. I don't mean, like, bodybuilder or professional athlete, but like, toning my muscles and building my endurance a little."

Vicky grinned. "Sure! I get what you mean, and can totally help. Meet me outside the track after school gets out."

Any further discussion was cut off as the teacher returned, and everyone settled in for class to begin.

- ** _BREAK_** -

Betty made her way over to the school's track as school got out, her usual spring in her step. After P.E., there'd been a semi-surprise math test, and she'd cleared it with an A-minus – not perfect, but more than good enough. As she approached the fence near the track, though, she spotted Victoria leaning against the fence looking quite downtrodden.

"Vicky? What's wrong?"

"…I got a 'D' on my math test" the other girl said, miserably. "I always try _so hard_ to study my math, to understand it, but it's always a huge uphill battle; I just can't wrap my head around the problems and stuff. I… I wanna get into something science-y as a career when I grow up, but… if I suck at math, that can't happen. …What was I thinking? A math-illiterate _dumb jock_ wanting to get into science? Yeah, right…"

Saddened and concerned by her friend's mood, Becky was about to say something, to think of something to try to cheer Vicky up…

"My, my," a classy-sounding voice spoke, "what have we _here_?"

Both girls turned, to see a tall and lean man, clad in a snazzy-looking suit of blacks and greys, with light-grey gloves on his hands, a short top-hat on his head, and carrying a simple white cane with a ball-shaped greyish-blue gem at the top as a handle. But what set Betty on edge was the black diamond mark on the front of his suit, and dark-grey whites of his eyes. From inside her backpack, she heard Pixee whisper "Oh no…"

"Such sadness, such bitter frustration, such faithlessness…" He grinned as he held his cane-staff up, the gem glowing with dark power. "I can make use of that…"

Black Diamond held his staff high, and a cold, bright light shone from it. The two girls reflexively squinted and shielded their eyes as the light cast their shadows on the pavement behind them… and then, Vicky's shadow darkened, peeled itself up off the ground, and floated up while curling & shifting into a pitch-black orb that floated over to in front of Black Diamond. Vicky, meanwhile, fell to her knees, feeling chilled and drained. Black Diamond grinned as the shadow-orb, the manifestation of Victoria's negative emotions, floated before him, and at his command Darkness power began to rapidly swirl around and into it, forming a roiling ball of black and dark-purple energy that rapidly grew as it floated upwards.

The dark orb shattered, and a newly-forged Vish around 10 feet tall dropped to the ground with a thud. It had a similar "shapes mashed together" appearance to the one Cure Gleam had fought yesterday, though with some little differences; also, its color pattern vaguely resembled an evil-looking soccer uniform, though there was a path with multiple complicated little math symbols crammed onto it on the left chest.

"And that's a little more energy harvested for our cause…" Black Diamond remarked, as the energies cast off the Vish's creation flowed into his cane-crystal, darkening it. "Go ahead and do what you wish, beast."

The Vish roared and brought its foot down at the girls, and Betty grabbed Vicky and threw her and herself out of the way just in time. She hurriedly led the drained girl away, but noticed that the Vish was now heading toward the school building. Setting the still-dazed Vicky down in cover behind a shed, Becky steeled herself and ran back out, readying her gem… not noticing that behind her, Victoria had just come out of her dazed state.

With a flare of pink light, Cure Gleam took form. The Cure of Light made her presence known to the Vish with a flying kick from above, but unfortunately the monster saw her coming and managed to raise its arms in a block, being sent skidding back on its heels but taking no significant damage. It struck back, firing an energy blast from its palm at Cure Gleam, who just managed to dodge it. The Vish followed up by forming an energy ball made to somewhat resemble a soccer ball (covered in various mathematical symbols and such) and kicking it at her, launching it at her with much greater speed than the hand-fired blast. Gleam wasn't able to get out of the way of this one, and cried out as she was blasted back by the impact. She brought her tumble to a quick stop, gritting her teeth; her powers had converted most of the potential injury into 'magical damage', but it still hurt like real harm, and her powers could only protect her from so much before she started actually taking damage.

The Vish charged, and so did Cure Gleam to meet it. The warrior of Light and the creature of Darkness exchanged blows of bone-crushing power, the earth shaking with every blocked strike, every stomp, appearing evenly matched. Cure Gleam was successfully dodging or withstanding everything the Vish threw at her, but she couldn't manage to break through its defense and land a decisive blow.

"W… Whoa…" Vicky gazed from her hiding place, wide-eyed as she beheld the clash. "… _That's_ Betty?"

"It's a long story" Pixee said from behind Victoria, startling her. "But basically, an evil group led by the King & Queen of Darkness is planning to conquer this world, but they need enough of a certain type of energy to do it. Their field-leaders, the Black Card Quartet, can take a person's negative emotions and make big monsters called Vishes; the creation process generates some of the energy they need, though they'll need to find an additional source unless they plan on making a really big number of Vishes. A prophecy spoke of a team of legendary warriors, the Elemental Pretty Cures, who would stand against the forces of darkness. Yesterday, Elizabeth rescued me from Black Spade, and when he sicced a Vish on us, her determination to protect me let her transform."

"This is _amazing_ … but… it looks like she's having trouble…"

Pixee nodded, looking worried. "This Vish is a better fighter than the first one. She didn't even take any hits last time, but now…"

"That thing… came from me… In a way, this is my fault that Betty is being put through trouble and pain right now…"

Cure Gleam fired a cluster shot of small pink energy bolts, but the Vish formed a shield (apparently made from a giant division symbol) that blocked the attack, and then it rushed at her before she could react. She cried out as the shield-bash sent her flying, leaving her on the ground stunned. The Vish stomped towards her… and a soccer ball smacked it in the side of the head. The monster and Cure Gleam turned, and saw Victoria standing there, glaring at the beast.

"What are you doing?!" Cure Gleam shouted.

Vicky moved into position between Cure Gleam and the Vish, and the monster started stomping forward. Gleam tried to get back up, but was still sore and disoriented from the earlier hit.

"I may not be as smart as I should be," she said, "but I'm strong, and I use my strength to help people, treat them with kindness. I won't let someone who's vicious and cruel to others have their way! _Especially against my friend!-!_ "

The Vish was sent stumbling back as a burst of power accompanied a shining green light enveloping Vicky. The light swirled together and formed into a sparkling green gem, as well as a small heart-shaped green & white brooch with a circular slot in the middle. Victoria took hold of them, and brilliant green light enveloped her.

(TRANSFORMATION THEME: _Smile PreCure_ – "Smile Charge")

In the heart of a realm of swirling green light, clad in a glowing, sparkling 'dress' of solid green magic, Vicky held her transformation gem high. "PreCure!" She held the hand with the gem up high to her right, and the left hand with the brooch down low. " _Elements Charge!-!_ "

With a lightning-quick movement she brought them together and pushed the gem into the brooch, swung the device around in a quick flourish of an arc, and then slammed it to her chest. The glowing green light at the center of the chest sparked with power, and then emitted multiple bolts of bright green lightning that crackled as it bent and wrapped around Victoria's torso, flowing along her body. With a thunderclap, it burst and solidified, transforming into a light-green outfit with some white frills and dark-green lining, short sleeves with the hems jagged-looking like a lightning bolt, a white-lined green bow in the middle of her chest with a green gem with a darker-green lightning symbol in the center, and a thigh-length green skirt with white hem.

She held her right hand high with two fingers pointed up, and a bright green lightning bolt struck down from the heavens and hit her hand like a lightning-rod; green electrical magic coalesced around her hand and forearm, while more of the current rapidly flowed down her body and gathered on the other hand. With a crackle, a pair of forearm-length gloves formed, white with green lightning and circular green gems on the backs. She then bent back, stretching one leg high, and more magic lightning struck her extended foot, forming around it a white boot with a little green heart on the toes; the green energy flowed up her leg and across her hips to travel down her other leg, cladding that foot with a matching boot.

Above her head, a dark-grey thundercloud seized and heaved, green light piercing out from within. It was blown away from within to reveal a golden headband with small green diamond-shaped gems in a row along the top. She placed it upon her head, and her dull-blonde shoulder-length hair glowed with power and partially spiked upward, turning a bright green color, while her dark-green eyes lightened in shade to match. To finish, a good-sized light-green bow formed on her lower back, just above the skirt.

"Crashing thunder," she shouted, clenching her fist as emerald-colored sparks of lightning danced around it, "heralding the storm!" She threw that fist high, releasing the energy with a thunderclap, fist held high. "Cure Volt!-!"

(END)

Cure Gleam stared in shock as her close friend transformed, emerging as a new Pretty Cure. Cure Volt, feeling the amazing power flowing through her, took a stance as she glared at the Vish, a brief crackle of green lighting around her pulled-back fist as power built within her like a coiling spring. The Vish snarled and charged at her, but it barely managed to begin the motion for a punch before Cure Volt surged forward with a lightning-fast punch of her own that had so much power packed into it, the Vish was sent hurtling back, its midsection – now with a noticeable dent in it – crackling with green lightning.

Cure Volt took off running, charging at the Vish, which had gotten back on its feet and now rushed to meet her. Their fists met in the middle with a thunderous bang, and the two then flowed into a rapid series of blows, blocking and dodging. After several seconds, Cure Gleam rejoined the battle with a flying kick from above, catching the Vish off-guard and giving Cure Volt room to land another blow, an electrified palm-thrust strike that nailed the best in the chest, sending it staggering back.

The Vish roared as it steadied itself, lashing out with a sweeping chop that the two Cures leapt back to avoid. It formed a large ball of Darkness energy covered in little swirling math signs at its feet, and then kicked the ball at Cure Volt. Timing it right, she shrouded her leg in green Lightning energy and kicked it back, adding force to it. The Vish kicked it at her again, and she sent it back. One more repetition, and this time the ball – now shrouded in Cure Volt's energy and traveling with great speed – slammed into the Vish, blasting it back and badly damaging it.

"Now's your chance!" Pixee shouted.

Nodding, Cure Volt held her hand high, and a bolt of green lightning shot down. She 'caught' it, and the mass of Lightning magic shifted and formed into the shape of a long sword with a slightly curved 'blade'. Brandishing it, she charged at the Vish, which quickly formed and kicked another energy ball. Cure Volt chopped the attack in half, and then with a burst of speed she blitzed into her foe:

"PreCure: _Spark Saber!-!_ "

With a flash of green light, Cure Volt appeared behind the Vish, and a half-second later a glowing green cut appeared clear through the beast. The Vish roared out before an explosion of emerald light and crackling lightning accompanied its destruction.

Cure Volt dispelled her blade, straightened up and turned around, just in time to get tackle-hugged by Cure Gleam.

"That was so cool, Vic-… I mean, Cure Volt! I have a partner now!"

"You sure do" Cure Volt grinned. "Just glad I was able to help you… especially against something that existed because of _me_ …"

Cure Gleam looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hey, Vicky? Maybe, while you're helping me practice training my body, I could help you with math? I'm not the best around, usually get either a B-plus or an A-minus, but every bit helps, right?"

"I could pitch in, too" Pixee spoke up. "Some of the more complicated spells I know require knowledge of complex mathematical formulae."

Touched by the offer of help, Cure Volt gave her friend a slightly blushing smile. "Okay!"

- ** _CHAPTER END_** -

And next time, the team will continue to grow...


	3. Blow Me Away

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMER**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

There hadn't been any more trouble in the past three days, as the enemy tried to figure out what to do with _two_ Cures now defending the city. Nevertheless, Betty and Vicky stayed vigilant, while Pixee kept a lookout for anything out of the ordinary. It was still kinda hard for Victoria to believe the huge thing she was now involved in, but she was taking it pretty well so far.

Right now, as the duo sat down for lunch, they were joined by a third person: a girl with bluish-black hair and blue eyes, an easygoing smile on her face. "Hey, Betty."

"Amelia!" Betty grinned. "Have a seat! Vicky, have you met Amelia Palmer?"

"…Kinda?" Victoria replied. "In passing, I think."

Amelia Palmer was a nice girl, who really liked to make people smile and laugh. She was easygoing, but also tended to go off on rather odd trains of thought on occasion, or to daydream, her head in the clouds; she could politely be described as "spacey", and the combination of her quirks and her usually-positive attitude had led to the nickname "Amelia Air-Heart" amongst the students.

As they got to know each other with Betty observing, Vicky found herself liking Amelia. Sure, the girl was a little weird, and her odd thought patterns were a little difficult to follow at first, but she had quickly adjusted and got along well with her. Before long, though, lunch was over, and the trio had to split up for their respective classes for now.

- _Break_ -

Amelia sat in a stall in the girls' bathroom; she didn't have to 'go', she just wanted a quiet, enclosed space for a moment to help her finish chasing down an idea she'd been trying to catch. Suddenly, she heard as a few other girls entered the restroom, mid-conversation.

"…such a prude, right?"

"Hey, what about Palmer?"

"You mean Amelia _Airhead_?"

"I know, she's so… _weird_!"

"Like, does _anything_ complex go on between those ears of hers?"

"I'd say it does, but it's _too_ complex. She's got a mind like an alien, bouncing all over the place, thinking up such _bizarre_ things."

"She's probably got, like, some developmental or neuro thing; the kind they stick you in remedial for!"

"Or make you walk around with an 'aide' and wearing a helmet all the time."

"I wouldn't exactly say she's _stupid_ , but… she's just so _weird_. Nobody can understand how that mixed-up little mind of hers works! Her head's in the clouds so much I'm surprised she knows that the ground looks like!"

The mean girls kept talking, continuing as they eventually left, while in the stall, Amelia sat, hugging herself, looking deeply hurt. Amelia was a very sensitive soul; that meant that she was easily made happy, but also that the girls' comments had been like repeated punches to the gut. Almost in a stunned daze, she got up and slowly made her way out of the restroom, nervously looking around as she started walking… only to bump into Mr. Bickler, her English teacher.

"Miss Palmer? Ah, perfect; I was wanting to talk with you. Regarding your project you turned in earlier today… While I recognize that you put effort into it… I think… it could perhaps be a little… clearer?" He tried to find a delicate way to phrase it. "I'm sure it must be good, and that you put a lot of thought into it, but the message – there _is_ a message, right? I can't really… The message would be a bit weightier if people could tell what it is. The paper does have a flow to it, but it's difficult to determine…"

He was cut off by a sniffle. He looked, and his eyes widened as he saw Amelia looking deeply upset, tears in her eyes; hearing this right after what those girls said, reaffirming every harsh remark they'd made… With a partially-stifled sob, she turned and fled, leaving Mr. Bickler feeling confused and guilty.

- _Break_ -

In the presently-empty tree-studded field behind the school, what appeared to be a woman looked around at the world with calm disdain. Her skin was slightly tanned in tone, and her hair was bone-white with a single black streak. She was wearing a thin coat over a pale-grey dress, which had a black heart-shape over the chest. Her irises were golden-yellow, and the surrounding sclera were black.

Black Heart used her physical and magical senses as she looked around, seeking a good target. Soon, a fine target presented itself: a girl all but running out of the school, radiating sadness and humiliation. As the girl hid behind a tree, leaned against it and slid down onto the ground, and buried her face in her hands, Black Heart grinned as she began her approach…

-X-

Betty and Vicky transformed as they leapt from the roof to land in the school field, Cures Gleam & Volt standing ready. Before them stood Black Heart, along with a newly-created Vish – smooth curves to its bulky build, and two wings apparently made out of cloud – and around two-dozen Grumps.

"So you're the 'Element PreCures' who've shown up out of the blue?" Black Heart asked. "The outfits are cute, if a bit too… _bright_ for my tastes…" She grinned, a wicked toothy grin. "Let's add a little _red_ to them…"

She waved her arm forward, and the Vish and its Grump entourage charged. The two Cures rushed in to meet them, Cure Volt charging her fists and legs with Lightning magic and lashing out at any Grumps in range, while Cure Gleam went for a Light-imbued punch at the Vish. The Vish made a flying leap that let it dodge Gleam's attack, gliding to get some distance and then turning to fire a crackling orb of Darkness at her. She tried to get out of the way, but a pair of Grumps caught her off-guard, grabbed her by the arm and threw her into the path of the attack; she cried out as it hit dead-on, blasting her back. Cure Volt tried to run to her teammate's side to help, leaping over a pack of Grumps who tried to block her… and then being blown downward by a gust of wind by the Vish as it leapt over her and flapped its cloud-wings down, forcing her down to the ground with great force and giving the Grumps an opening to attack a little before she pushed them back.

"This isn't going too well" Cure Gleam groaned as she stood up. "We can handle the Vish _or_ the Grumps, it looks like, but they're working together against us!"

The Grumps rushed in again, engaging the Cures in battle, with the Vish providing fire-support, creating some openings and taking advantage of others, as Black Heart stood back and grinned as she watched the two 'legendary warriors' being slowly worn down. Suddenly, a new person entered the fray, brandishing a tree branch against some nearby Grumps.

"A-Abigail?!" Cure Gleam was deeply surprised.

"Hmph" Black Heart glowered. "So soon after having a Vish created from her, and she's already up and trying to fight? No matter. Grumps?"

The little troll-like enemies sent a half-dozen of their number to gang up on Amelia, quickly overwhelming and disarming her, forcing her back. Gleam and Volt tried to help, but the other Grumps and the Vish kept them back, punishing them for letting their guard down by landing a few more attacks.

"Such a pathetic child…" Black Heart remarked. "Wanting so badly to be understood and accepted by others… It's a fool's errand, a doomed effort. With how bizarrely her mind works, how in-the-clouds her head is, what people already think of her… Being understood and respected by others is _impossible_ for her."

Hearing Black Heart's words, Amelia started to despair…

"You're wrong!-!"

…only to be caught by surprise by Cure Gleam's exclamation.

"Amelia may think strangely sometimes, but I can understand her! She's a kind and gentle girl, who loves to make people smile! If anyone just gave her a chance, they'd find a wonderful friend!"

"She _is_ a little hard to understand sometimes," Cure Volt added, "but she's a good person, kind and caring, brings smiles to others… How could anyone not like that?"

As she recognized that the two transformed heroines were Betty & Vicky, and heard their words, Amelia was touched to the point of tears; she'd finally, truly found friends who understood and cared about her… Along with her joy, her determination to do something – _anything_ – to help them welled up inside her, more than anything she'd felt before, until finally something… awoke.

Cures Gleam & Volt watched in surprised awe as magic and light swirled around Amelia, coalescing into a heart-shaped brooch and a small sky-blue gem. Surprised by the warm light and the power she could 'feel' in the gem, she reached out and took hold of the objects before her, and was enveloped in blue light.

(TRANSFORMATION MUSIC: _DokiDoki PreCure_ – "Love Link")

Amelia floated, clad in a 'dress' of sparkling blue magic, in the heart of a realm of swirling sky-blue light. "PreCure!" She held the blue gem between two fingers, while the other hand held the heart-brooch. " _Elements Charge!-!_ "

She swung the gem-holding arm around once and then brought the two together, slotting the gem into the brooch, which she then pressed to her chest with both hands. Sparkling wind kicked up and swirled around her, compressing to whirl around her torso until it took form around her as a sky-blue outfit, with dark-blue lining and white frills, a sky-blue bow on her chest with a blue gem in the center, and a short, slightly billowy skirt with pale-blue trim.

She swirled her arms around rapidly, gathering up Wind magic which coalesced into a pair of white gloves with sky-blue gems on the backs. She then leapt up, making a spinning kick through the wind swirling around her, 'catching' some of it on her feet, and when she came back down it transformed into a pair of white boots with light-blue hearts on the toes. A small cloud formed over her head, and she reached up and grabbed it. As she touched it, it compressed and shifted into a crescent shape, and then dispersed to reveal a golden headband with sky-blue gems set into it. Her blush-black hair turned sky-blue and 'floated' up into a high ponytail, while her eyes changed light-blue to match. She made a brief pose with her arms & legs out in a 'star', balanced on one foot, a big grin on her face.

"Gentle breeze," she wheeled her arms around, gathering up blue-sparkling wind which she then released as a mighty spiraling gust, "raging whirlwind!" She speared her hands upward and spread her arms out, as a rising breeze blew around her. "Cure Gale!-!"

(END)

Cures Gleam & Volt watched in awe, a gleeful smile forming on Gleam's face. Black Heart, meanwhile…

"Oh, no…" the evil woman palmed her face. "Again?"

With a snap of her fingers, she vanished through a black heart-shaped hole in space.

"You two focus on the little guys" Cure Gale said. "I'll handle the big one."

"Are you sure?" Cure Volt asked.

"…Yes. It's my duty, after all, since that thing came from me…"

She rushed at the Vish, using her new Wind magic to boost her speed. The beast swung at her, but she spun to the side to dodge and then lashed out with a mighty kick that left a sizable dent in the Vish's side. The monster reeled from the blow, sent staggering, but caught its footing in time to dodge Cure Gale's next strike, striking with a counterblow that she likewise avoided.

With the Vish off their backs, Cure Gleam and Cure Volt were free to devote their attention to the Grumps, who were quickly being thrashed without their big friend to help them. Cure Gleam planted her hands and lashed out with a spinning double-kick that sent several Grumps flying (thankful that there were no people around to see her undies from performing such a move), while Cure Volt used electrified punches and kicks to crush anything in range. She then formed her Spark Saber and started carving through the little trolls, while Gleam used a Sparkling Shot to take out half a dozen of them at once.

By now, Cure Gale had dealt quite a few blows to the Vish while taking only one in return that she'd quickly shrugged off, using her superior agility to run circles around the thing. It tried to flap its cloud-wings at her to blow her away, but she slid between its legs, clambered up its back, and formed a wind-blade that she used to sever the fluffy appendages, which dispersed harmlessly once cut away. She then leapt up and used a Wind-boosted kick to the back of the Vish's head to make it faceplant into the dirt, leaping away and landing daintily several meters away as the monster groaned and staggered to its feet.

"Now's your chance, Cure Gale!" Pixee shouted. "Use your finishing move!"

Cure Gale nodded, and then brought her hands close together in front of her chest. A large amount of Wind magic began coalescing and swirling together between her cupped hands, compressing and spiraling more and more. Then, she thrusted her hands forward:

"PreCure: Tearing Twister!-!"

A compressed horizontal column of rapidly rotating Wind magic, like a micro tornado, surged out and drilled into the Vish's chest, and the monster then exploded in a blast of darkness and magic, disintegrated by the Pretty Cure's power. The few Grumps left quickly gathered up and fled, disappearing through little black portals.

As she stood, catching her breath, Cure Gale was tackle-hugged by Cure Gleam, giggling a little as the other girl hugged her while Cure Volt strolled up with a grin.

"Wasn't expecting today to go like this," the green Cure said, "but I don't mind the results. Now, how 'bout we find an out-of-the-way place to explain what's going on to you?"

"Okay" Gale nodded. "Though, it doesn't really matter much. …You two girls are my friends… my _friends_ … I'll be glad to help you with whatever!"

"Looking forward to it" Gleam chimed in. "This is so _cool_ ~!"

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

Keep 'em comin'...


	4. Rock Solid

I'm sorry the fic is kinda stale right now; it should get better later in.

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

Betty took a deep breath, looking around with a smile as she, Vicky, and Amelia entered the mall. The shops, the people, the life… It was one of her favorite places.

"So what should we do first?" she asked.

"I want a snack" Victoria replied. "I'm heading for the pretzel place near the electronics store; they got those teeny-tiny hotdogs wrapped in pretzel…"

"And there's a cookie place real close to there, if I remember right" Amelia chimed in. "Buy three, get one free!"

The trio headed off, heading for the snacks they sought. Once they reached the pretzel place, though, they found a familiar face.

"Paula? Hey, Paula!"

At Betty's call, Paula Watson turned to face the group, and a small smile formed on her face as she saw them. Paula, a modestly-built girl with semi-short black hair and brown eyes, was a quiet girl, though this didn't mean she was stoic; she most definitely emoted, smiled or frowned or laughed or glared, she just didn't talk much. She was very patient and easygoing and calm, though at times she could be stubborn.

"Hey, girls" she waved. "Whatcha doing here? Just hangin' out?"

"Yep" Betty chirped. "…Wanna hang out with us?"

"…Sure, why not? Doing anything in particular?"

"Mostly just wandering and browsing for now" Vicky replied.

"Cool. Where to first?"

- _Break_ -

As the quartet moved about, joking and chatting and pointing out things to come back with more money for later, they walked by a bench area where a mother was desperately trying to calm her crying small child – upset about something but too young to communicate what. Paula walked over, pulling something out of her pocket: a geode. Crouching down in front of the upset toddler, she held the half-stone out, letting the lights hit the purple crystals to create a beautiful display. The child's cries softened, his tear-streaked eyes widening in awe at the pretty lights and color. She held the toddler's attention until he was calm, and then gave the grateful mother a smile and nod.

"What is that, Paula?" Amelia asked.

"It's my geode" she replied. "It was a gift from my father."

"I don't think I've ever seen your father…" Betty remarked.

The smile dropped off Paula's face. "He's a Commander in the navy. He's been on deployment for a while; I haven't seen him in over a year." She let out a sigh. "It's hard sometimes. He's missed out on quite a bit. I really miss him… and… I know I really shouldn't, but… I kinda… resent him for it a little too, sometimes…"

Betty placed a hand on Paula's shoulder, as the four girls moved on. A couple minutes later, Paula split off to use the restroom, but when she came out the girls had briefly gotten distracted looking at the fish at a nearby small pet store. Before she could hurry over to them, however, she heard a strange sound from behind her. She turned, and stared in shock as out of a whirling black portal on the wall, a man emerged – nearly seven feet tall, buff and muscular, clad in something that looked like a mix between armor and what someone would wear to the gym with a black 3-leaf-clover-like symbol on the chest, with a mane of shaggy black hair, gold eyes with black sclera, and an intimidating look on his rugged face. Paula froze, trembling with instinctive fear, as the 'man' looked down at her, his eyes slightly glowing.

"I make monsters out of people's negative emotions" he rumbled to her. "You may be trying to reject and deny your feelings of loneliness and resentment… but they're still there, and thus I can still make use of them."

He pointed his palm at her, and a black wind issued forth. Betty, Vicky, and Amelia felt a sudden surge of cold, dark magic in the vicinity, and spun around just in time to watch in shocked horror as a 'person' who could only be Black Club created a Vish from Paula, who fell to her knees shaking as the dark energy grew and coalesced to form a bipedal monster with rocky-looking armor on its stocky, solidly-built body. The Vish hit the ground with a thud, followed by a squad of Grumps emerging as backup.

As people started screaming and fleeing, the three girls – after making sure no-one was looking – transformed and got ready to fight. The Vish saw them and pointed, and the Grumps charged at the girls with the Vish bringing up the rear. Cure Gale struck first, crashing into the Grumps with a whirlwind kick that sent several flying. Cure Gleam attacked with a Light-charged punch at the Vish's midsection… and not only was the Vish barely budged, but it took all of Gleam's magic to protect her from a broken hand, the monster's hard body showing just how hard it was. Taking advantage of the opening, the Vish lashed out with its huge rocky fist, and Gleam cried out as she was sent flying with significant force.

Cure Gale used a Grump as a springboard to get into position over the Vish, and struck with a Wind-boosted kick to the side of the monster's head. The Vish's head was knocked to the side, but it otherwise barely budged, and it quickly grabbed hold of the surprised girl's leg and slammed her into the ground a couple times. She managed to break free and swing her arm to release a 'vacuum blade', but the cut it made in the Vish's rocky chest was small and shallow. As Gale was set upon by Grumps, Cure Volt moved in with a barrage of electrified punches & kicks, but the Vish brought its guard up and withstood the attacks with little damage, and then punted her away.

The girls kept going, but were barely able to scratch the Vish's durable body. Cure Gale was sent flying by an attack, managing to recover in midair and make a skidding landing over by Paula, who had shaken off the effects of being 'Vished' and had been watching the battle with frightened awe.

"What… _is_ that thing?" she murmured.

"It's a monster made from… from _your_ negative emotions" Cure Gale explained. "Our enemies can use people's negative emotions as the base to create monsters called Vishes. I'm sorry you've gotten caught up in this…"

As Gale leapt back into the fray, Paula felt a chaotic mixture of emotions – surprise at recognizing Amelia's voice and thus realizing her three friends had somehow become magical girls, guilt at how her feelings regarding her absent father had literally given birth to a monster, and a desire to do something, _anything_ , to help. She got to her feet, a determined look on her face, the need to make things right driving her to this seemingly-suicidally-reckless action. Perhaps, if this monster came from her negative emotions, then by accepting those emotions she could make it disappear or something?

Unfortunately, as she came up to the Vish and tried that, it did virtually nothing except briefly confuse the monster, which then lashed out with a stony fist. However, a shimmering orange-hued barrier suddenly appeared, blocking the Vish's punch and sending it staggering back from the rebounded force. Light coalesced into a dull-orange gem and a small brooch floating in front of Paula, who could somehow 'feel' the power in these objects. She reached out to grab them, and light engulfed her.

(TRANSFORMATIOM MUSIC: _HeartCatch PreCure_ – "Open My Heart")

Clad in a 'dress' of sparkling orange light in the middle of a swirling realm of the same, Paula held the glittering orange gem in one hand and the brooch in the other. "PreCure! _Elements Charge!-!_ "

She brought her hands together as if clapping, slamming the gem into the brooch's slot, and then held the object to her chest until it merged into her as light. Clear crystals rapidly spread out and formed around her torso, and then shattered to reveal an orange & white outfit with brown lining, white frills here & there, an orange bow on her chest with a matching gem in the middle, and a short skirt with orange trim.

She stomped her foot to the ground, and stone flowed up around the foot and then broke away to reveal a short white boot with an orange heart-shaped gem on the toes. She did the same with the other foot, and then held her arms out as sand swirled around them, obscuring her hands and then blowing away to reveal white gloves (short enough to just barely cover the wrists) with orange gems on the backs.

More sand, this time with gems mixed into it, swirled over her head and then formed into a shining golden headband with a line of orange gems set into it. She placed it on her head, and her hair lengthened slightly as it changed to a tan color with streaks of orange, her brown eyes lightning slightly in shade.

"Strong and steady, the unyielding earth!" She stomped on the ground, which quaked and rumbled, and then pounded her fists together with a sound like crashing rocks. "Cure Terra!-!"

(END)

Standing in her new form, Paula looked herself over "Whoa…" she breathed out, clenching her fists and feeling the power flowing through her. Then her expression hardened into a serious look, as she saw a Grump rushing at her. She lanced out with a single kick, and the force behind it sent the little troll-thing flying, bouncing a couple of times and then slamming into a far wall. The Vish roared and charged at her, its steps shaking the ground as it wound up for a fearsome punch…

Cure Terra raised her arm up with palm out, and stopped the Vish's fist cold, catching its blow with almost no effort. Then, she stepped forward and punched with all her might, and the Vish's rocky armor _shattered_ into countless harmless shards and small rocks, the monster stunned and stumbling back for a moment. The beast soon regained its footing and then brought a fist down to hammer her into mulch, but she backflipped out of the way, and a blast of Light magic from Cure Gleam struck home, injuring the Vish some more.

The Grumps tried to intervene, but the other three Cures barred their path, starting to beat them down; a few got past, but Cure Terra conjured a mass of sand and formed it into tendrils which grabbed the Grumps and then flung them away with great force. Turning her attention back to the Vish, Cure Terra hopped to the side to dodge a kick from the monster, and then moved in with a barrage of mighty blows that left the Vish reeling. Her finishing blow knocked it flat on its back, and then she leapt high, charging Earth magic into her arm as she came down on the monster:

"PreCure: _Geo Smasher!-!_ "

The punch accompanied an explosive release of energy, the earth shaking all around. The Vish was pulverized, breaking apart into pebbles and particles of Darkness. Seeing their 'leader' perish, the remaining Grumps hastily retreated, leaving the area quiet.

Dusting herself off, Cure Terra walked over to her friends, a fist-bump with Volt quickly followed by a gleeful hug from Gleam that Gale joined in on and then pulled Volt into as well.

"Now we've got _four_ people…" Gleam remarked. "I wonder if we're gonna get anyone else on the team?"

"Well, even if we don't," Volt replied, "together we're strong enough to handle anything."

"Yeah…" Terra said. "Though… It'd be nice to actually understand what's going on here…"

Cure Gleam laughed sheepishly at that. "Right; kinda forgot about that. Let's go find Pixee so she can explain things."

"…Pixee?"

"You'll see."

The four girls soon made their exit. Before anyone else returned to investigate the area, however, one girl snuck in, and what she felt was unmistakable.

"Magic…" she whispered. "There was _so much_ magic used here. What happened here?"

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**


	5. Go With The Flow

Ugh, this chapter fought me all the way. It's super-short, poor in structure and bare-bones, and it STILL took me this long to write... If it's gonna be like this every time, I might actually just cancel the fic and post the outline I have for it as a 'final chapter'.

Also, I just noticed a rather glaring error I made back in Chapter 3. At one point, I referred to Amelia as 'Abigail'. ...How the hell did I do that? What kind of connection is there between the names 'Abigail' and 'Amelia' to make me accidentally do that?

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

During the last class of the day, everyone had been split into five-person groups for their next in-class assignment. Betty, Vicky, Amelia, and Paula had ended up partnered with Selena Acionna – a girl with a slender build and a height a little above average, with long flowing platinum-blonde hair and deep-blue eyes. Selena was a calm and gentle girl, patient and easygoing, someone who went with the flow of things. She was generous, always willing to help those in need, and quite maternal as well; frequently, she would mediate conflicts between the other students, smoothly and easily bringing things to peaceful conclusions. …She could be a _bit_ mischievous on occasion, though never to the extent of hurting anyone's feelings.

Now, the girls had offered Selena to hang out with them as school ended, and the warm girl had agreed.

"Still," Vicky remarked, "it's hard for me to believe how _good_ you are at smoothing over disagreements and breaking up arguments."

"Part of it is experience" Selena replied. "I've been doing this kinda thing for a while. I just… don't like to see people fight. I mean, I know that some arguments _need_ to happen, but I try to keep them from getting out of hand. It's also from… from memories of watching my mother."

"Your mother?" Amelia asked.

Selena nodded. "She died in a plane crash when I was nine years old. When it happened, my dad pretty much shut down for a while, so I had to focus on taking care of my little sister, who was three at the time. I still do…"

Betty noticed how Selena's voice sounded kind of… flat, almost detached. Clandestinely, she used her empathy powers, and was surprised by what she could sense in Selena's voice: deep sadness locked up tight behind a sturdy wall. In order to raise her baby sister and pick up the slack, Selena had essentially locked away her own feelings of sadness and grief over losing her mother. Even after almost eight years, she'd never allowed herself to properly grieve…

Before Betty could think of any way to broach the subject, Selena's phone chimed.

"I'm afraid that means I must be going" she said. "I need to do a little grocery shopping on my way home. See you girls later?"

The girls bade her farewell as she walked away, though Betty couldn't shake her feeling of concern…

- _Break_ -

As Selena walked along, trying to concentrate on what she need to do next, she heard a noise from behind her, and felt a sudden chill. She turned, and was faced with a slender, well-dressed man holding an odd-looking cane, and the whites of his eyes were black. Instinctive fear rooted her to the spot, as he grinned wickedly, his eyes faintly glowing.

"Good afternoon, young lady" he said. "My name is Black Diamond, and I literally take people's negative emotions and make monsters out of them. You've got quite a bit locked up in your heart… but I am rather accomplished at picking locks…"

He held up the spherical gem at the top of his cane, and a flash of Darkness enveloped Selena's senses…

- _Break_ -

The four girls had sensed the formation of a Vish, and had transformed and come running. When they got there, they saw a Vish around 15 feet tall, deep-blue in color, without any distinguishing unique features to its body except a pair of wings that looked like miniature jet-airliner wings, complete with two thruster-engines. About 15 Grumps were there as support. Black Diamond grinned as he retreated through a portal, and sitting against a wall off to the side, face buried in her knees in something of a fetal position, was Selena.

"Even if they're locked up, the enemy can still use them…" Cure Gleam murmured.

"What are you talking about?" Cure Volt asked.

"I sensed it earlier. Selena had taken all her sadness and grief over her mom's death and locked it away inside her heart. But it seems the dark kingdom's people can break such a lock in order to access those negative emotions for making a Vish…"

"So in addition to the effects of being 'Vished'," Cure Gale surmised, "she's also being hit by the built-up repressed trauma and pain from that, too…"

The Vish made the first move, rushing in with a hammer fist blow that the four girls scattered to avoid, the pavement being cratered where the pounding strike hit. Cure Gleam and Cure Gale launched attacks at the monster, but it used a jet-boosted leap to dodge their blasts and then returned fire with swirling blasts of dark magic. They dodged, but the Grumps came in on them, keeping them busy fighting the little troll-things back. Cure Volt fired a ball-lightning blast at the Vish while Cure Terra launched a spear of stone, but the Vish crossed its arms to block and withstand the first attack and simply leapt over to dodge the second. It then rotated its jet wings to point the rears forward and fired twin concussive blasts of heated wind at the girls, blowing them hard into a wall.

The Grumps moved in, trying to distract the Cures and divide their attention. As the others engaged the Grumps, Cure Gleam managed to break through and threw out a slicing wave of pink Light magic at the Vish, but the monster dodged the attack and then closed in quick enough that Gleam couldn't fire another one. She engaged it in a rapid exchange of blows, fists and feet moving blurringly fast. Unfortunately, the Vish got the upper hand, and a punch sent Cure Gleam flying, slamming into the wall and sliding down right beside Selena.

Groaning, Cure Gleam looked over at Selena, seeing the girl hugging herself, eyes shining with tears even as she watched the battle with frightened curiosity; Black Diamond had cruelly broken down the walls behind which Selena had been holding back her sadness and grief over her mother's death for so long.

"Selena…" Cure Gleam spoke softly.

Startling, the girl looked up at Cure Gleam, recognizing the magical girl's voice and her facial features, despite the change in hair & eye color. "…B-Betty? …What's happening?"

"We're a team of superheroes called the Elemental Pretty Cure (or PreCure for short), and the monster we're fighting is called a Vish. Vishes are created from… from people's negative emotions. Black Diamond, one of the enemy's four field commanders, sensed the sadness you feel over losing your mother locked away in your heart, and he destroyed that 'lock' so he could access those feelings and make a monster from them…"

Selena felt a confusing mess of emotions at that reveal, including guilt that her sadness had been used to create a monster that was now trying to hurt her friends. She buried her face in her hands.

"So stupid…" she whimpered, shaking her head. "If I'd h-had a better hold on it…"

Gleam placed a hand on her shoulder. "No, you're not. This isn't your fault, Selena. No amount of mental defenses could stand against the dark kingdom's magic. …It's okay to grieve, Selena. You have people able and ready to support you…"

There was a pained cry as Cure Terra was slammed into a wall by a jet-powered kick from the Vish. As Cure Gleam got back to her feet and rejoined the fray, Selena felt the need to do something, the need to set things right somehow, the need to help her friends… She stood up, clenched her fists, and strode forward with a serious, determined look on her face. After batting Cure Volt away, the Vish turned to face her, snarling and pointing a palm at her with a dark orb charging up.

"You will not hurt them anymore…" she spoke with tranquil anger and utter conviction.

The Vish prepared to fire its deadly blast at her, when suddenly a shockwave of blue magic raced out, sending the monster staggering back and disrupting its attack. Blue light swirled around Selena, coalescing into a heart-shaped brooch and a small spherical blue gem (of a darker blue than Cure Gale's sky-blue, that is). She took hold of it, and power enveloped her.

(TRANSFORMATION MUSIC: _Suite PreCure_ – "Let's Play: PreCure Modulation")

Wrapped in a dress of sparkling blue magic in the heart of swirling blue lights, Selena held her arms apart with the brooch in one hand and the blue gem in the other. "PreCure!" she opened her eyes, "Elements Charge!-!"

With a flowing motion she brought her arms together and slotted the gem into the brooch, and then pressed the thing to her chest, where it vanished into her. Water sprang forth from where it had gone, flowing around and over her torso and then coalescing into an outfit of white and blue with deep-blue lining, some white frills and lace, a blue bow on her chest with matching gem in the center, and a mid-length skirt with blue trim.

As she lightly set down on her feet on the 'floor', it rippled out like ripples in a pond, and the ripples then spread up her feet, conforming to the shape and growing closer together until with a burst of misty spray her feet and lower legs were clad in white boots with blue hearts on the toes. Rings of water formed around her hands & arms, spinning and contracting until the merged into her to form a pair of elbow-length white gloves with blue gems.

A mass of water formed floating over her head, turned to ice and then shattered to reveal a golden headband with blue gems in it. She put it on, and her platinum-blonde hair turned silver, her blue eyes lightning in shade.

"Flowing rivers," she called out while making a rising sideways motion with her arms as a mass of blue sparkles followed her motion like water, "crashing waves!" She stood tall with hand extended forward, as the image of a crashing wave appeared behind her. "Cure Hydro!-!"

(END)

With a flash of deep blue light, Cure Hydro appeared, glaring at the Vish and its Grumps. The Grumps charged at her, but she slammed her palms to the ground, and suddenly several waterspouts burst up from under the Grumps' feet, sending them hurtling high into the air to land with a series of thuds; the battered troll-things retreated, seeing how out of their depth they now were against _five_ Pretty Cures. The Vish roared and pointed its engine-blasters at her, firing twin columns of powerful hot wind. However, Cure Hydro formed a sphere of water around herself, and though it rippled and flowed and distorted from the force, it did not break or blow away. While the monster was distracted, Cure Terra made her move, forming and flinging two large chunks of stone right into the engine intakes. The hot wind cut off as the two small engines sputtered and sparked, flames and bits of metal & rock shooting out the exhaust ports. The Vish stopped its attack, and Cure Hydro dispelled her aqua barrier.

The five Cures converged on the Vish, hammering it with punches and kicks from all directions, without any Grumps to get in their way or divide their focus, or having to worry about hot-wind blasts or flight from the beast. They finished with a combined double-kick from Hydro and Gleam that sent it tumbling back, before it caught itself and skidded to a stop in a kneeling position, straightening up with its angry eyes faintly glowing with rage, despite its battered state. Cure Hydro strode forward, calling up her power. She swept her arms around, and a huge amount of water was conjured into being around the Vish, swirling around it like a waterspout. The Vish was soon caught up in the force, being spun around and battered and hoisted off the ground.

"PreCure: Wild Whirlpool!-!"

Cure Hydro rose her arms up and then brought them down quickly, and the whirlpool-waterspout heaved the Vish into the air while battering and spinning it, and then slammed it down hard into the ground, the spin becoming a drilling effect for even more damage. When the water faded and vanished, the battered and beaten (and waterlogged) Vish was seen rapidly disintegrating into motes of darkness. With all said & done, the girls congregated around Cure Hydro, who was panting lightly from the exertion of her first fight but otherwise okay.

"Thank you, Bet… Cure Gleam" she said. "I think… I think it's time I talk with my dad about the feelings I've been bottling up so long…"

Gleam nodded. "He'll understand. I know he will. Come on, let's find a private place so Pixee can explain things, and then we'll walk you there. We'll be there for you."

A touched smile formed on Hydro's face. "Thank you…"

The quintet hurried off, making magic-powered leaps between roofs. None of them noticed the lone figure peering out from behind a wall. The mysterious, quiet and sad girl known as 'Dusk' had senses the flares of magic and come running to investigate, arriving just in time to see Cure Hydro's emergence and the girls' victory over the dark creatures.

"Creatures of dark magic," she murmured, "and a group of girls who wield magic to fight them and protect the world from them… This is strange, and interesting…" 'And somehow… nostalgic?'

'Dusk' ran a hand through her two-colored hair, wondering who those girls were, and how things would develop next…

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

How does 'Dusk' know about magic? Who _is_ Dusk, anyway? We'll find out later. For now, the team seems to be complete. What might the dark kingdom come up with next?


	6. Double Trouble

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

- _ **CHAPTER START**_ -

A couple days after Selena joined the team and had everything explained to her, the five girls were hanging out at the park together. As they discussed various things (including their duties as Pretty Cures and what might come next, whenever they were sure other people weren't in earshot), their attention was drawn to what looked and sounded like an argument between a girl around 10 years old and her little brother around 7.

Suddenly, a woman stepped out from behind a tree near the quarreling siblings, and the quintet felt shock as they recognized her as Black Heart. She extended her palm at the girl, and the 'flash' of black light made the girl's shadow solidify and then rise up, growing and shifting, as the girl fell to her knees pale and shaking. The Darkness rapidly grew and shifted, until it took the form of a Vish, around 9 feet tall, looking like it was composed of giant toy blocks with muted colors. The younger boy, terrified, tried frantically to drag his older sister away, but she was still shocked and weakened after being 'Vished'.

In a flash of multicolored light, the girls transformed and leapt into the fray. A flying kick from Cure Terra opened the fight, slamming into the side of the Vish's head and sending it staggering to the side. As the two civilian kids watched in shock and awe, the monster recovered and roared as it swung a blocky fist at the orange-clad Cure, only for her to roll to the side as a compressed-air cannonball from Cure Gale sailed in and slammed into the Vish's chest, knocking it over onto its back.

The Vish leapt to its feet with a furious roar, charging at the girls while firing two crackling orbs of explosive Darkness power. Cure Volt stepped forward, forming her Spark Saber and batting the blasts away. Getting in close, she dodged the monster's wild swing, leapt up over its head, and swung her Lightning-magic blade. She landed behind the monster, and the Vish's head hit the ground, followed by the rest of its body toppling over a couple seconds later. The monster then disintegrated into motes of purple light that winked out.

"T-That was… incredible…" the young girl gasped out. "What… Who _are_ you?"

"We're the Element Pretty Cures" Cure Gleam announced. "'PreCures' or 'Cures' works, too. Our enemies use people's negative emotions to create monsters; whatever argument you two were having created enough for one of their field commanders to make use of. And if your sibling squabbles are that bad, you should probably talk out your feelings and what issues you may have with each other."

"That's what we were _doing_ " the little boy replied. "Talking about those things is what got us both so angry!"

"Oh…" Cure Gleam looked a bit embarrassed and confused. "Then, um… Get your parents involved as mediators, I guess?"

"They're always busy at work" the girl replied.

"Uh… Um… I-I don't know what else to say, then. We're all still a little new at this hero thing, and I don't have any siblings, so I don't know…"

"Why don't you let _me_ handle this one, Gleam?" Cure Hydro placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"R-Right…"

As Cure Hydro put her considerable skill at smoothing out conflicts to work, the other four Cures gathered together.

"That was the third Vish in two days" Cure Volt whispered. "The dark kingdom's getting busy; I wonder what for…"

"Nothing good, I'll wager…" Cure Terra remarked.

"Whatever it is," Cure Gleam said, "we'll handle it. I know we can…"

- ** _Break_** -

Sensing another Vish being created, the girls hurried to a mostly-empty parking lot, where they found Black Heart, standing there with a grin, flanked by _two_ Vishes.

"Hello, girls" she said with a teasing grin. "Glad you could make it. After a little trial-&-error, I've finally figured out a way to take you girls down. Observe!"

She held her hand up, dark magic lancing out from it, and the two Vishes stepped toward each other. As one Vish's right hand and the other's left pressed together, a whirling mass of dark magic formed at the point of contact, bending light and warping the shapes of their arms. They stepped closer together, and with a flash of dark-purple light, both Vishes vanished into a huge, seething mass of purple and black magical energy. The mass grew, and then burst to reveal a new Vish, nearly 16 feet tall, bearing appearance traits from the previous smaller Vishes mixed together. Cure Gleam stepped back, eyes wide, as she sensed that this fused Vish's power level was slightly higher than the sum of its two components.

As Black Heart warped out, the Fusion Vish roared and fired a blast of Darkness energy nearly six feet wide at the Cures. The girls scattered, and the resulting blast left a sizable crater where they'd been standing. Cure Gale and Cure Gleam fired a compressed-air cannonball and a blast of Light magic, but the Vish barely flinched from the impacts. The beast charged, powering through a shock bolt from Cure Volt and slamming into her with a shoulder tackle, sending her flying with a cry of shocked pain.

Cure Terra launched a stone spear at the Fusion Vish, but it swatted the projectile out of the air, shattering it into chunks of rock that scattered all over. She charged at it with a stone hammer, but the beast caught the weapon, crushed it, and when Terra tried to leap away it grabbed her by the leg and slammed her into the ground a couple of times until a water blast to the wrist from Cure Hydro forced it to let her go.

As Gale and Volt closed in, Cure Gleam hit the Fusion Vish in the face with a blast of pink Light magic. The Vish let out a roar and stumbled back a little, hands over its face, and Gale & Volt struck with a barrage of blows. However, even briefly blinded, the Fusion Vish was durable enough that their strikes barely fazed it, and it soon recovered and knocked them back with a wide sweeping kick. Shaking its head as it regained its sight, the Fusion Vish fired a shotgun-like conical spread of small Darkness bolts at the girls. Cure Terra formed a wall of stone to block it, but the bolts tore almost completely through it, barely giving the girls time to get out of the way. Unfortunately, they failed to get out of the way of the next, larger blast of Dark power, which sent them flying.

"Ugh…" Cure Volt groaned. "This thing's beating us around… Any ideas?"

"It's got the combined attack and defensive power of two Vishes" Cure Terra said. "How do we overcome that?"

"…Wait a minute" Cure Gleam spoke up, eyes widening. "Why don't we try the same?"

"What do you mean?" Cure Gale asked.

"C'mere a moment…"

Gleam pulled the girls into a huddle, as the Fusion Vish stared in bemusement. Soon losing its patience, the monster charged at them again. The girls stood ready, and Cure Hydro formed a swirling wall of water around the group… and, just before the Vish reached it, Cure Volt poured her Lightning magic into it, creating their new combo attack "Shock-Splash Wall". Slamming into the wall of electrified water, the Vish was lit up like a Christmas tree as the voltage hit it, being sent flying backwards after a few seconds, still sparking.

As the Fusion Vish got back on its unsteady feet, Cures Terra & Gale combined their magics, Cure Gales right hand and Cure Terra's left gathering a large amount of power between them. They threw their arms forward, releasing the accumulated energies, and their new "Dust Devil" attack engulfed the Fusion Vish in a whirling tornado of slicing Wind magic, high-velocity pummeling rocks, and tearing sharp shards of stone; fueled by two Cures' magic, it was a little stronger than the sum of its parts, dealing significant damage to the dark creature. When the attack finally cut out, the Vish was quite the worse for wear, unsteady and badly damaged, wobbling slightly.

By now, Cure Gleam was finally finished preparing her new idea for an attack, sensing that her foe was now weakened enough that it would end this fight. She had taken all the energy of a Sparkling Shot and concentrated it – instead of a continuous seconds-long big beam of destructive Light magic, it would launch as a single blast, narrowed and shaped into a spiraling conical projectile. Making an arm motion as if drawing back a bowstring, she aimed at the Fusion Vish's head and fired:

"PreCure: Sparkling Arrow!-!"

The highly concentrated blast of pink Light magic took the rough shape of a stretched-out heart with a thin trail of light, like an arrow. It shot straight and true, crashing into the weakened Fusion Vish's face and breaking clean through, blowing a hole out the back of the monster's head. The Vish toppled over, and broke apart into Darkness particles.

"Finally…" Cure Volt remarked. "That wasn't fun. Are they all gonna be like this from now on?"

"Let's hope not" Cure Gale replied. "Though if they are, at least now we know they can be beaten."

 **-** ** _BREAK_** **-**

 **Next Day**

As the girls left their latest class together, they came across someone carrying a large stack of boxes from one storage room to another (not a punishment; students rotated a few little tasks around the school, such as moving teaching supplies like this person was doing now). It turned out to be 'Dusk', the mysterious transfer student from whom Betty had sensed lonely sadness and bitterness previously. As they caught sight of her, she began to stumble, losing the precarious balance of the stack of boxes. Acting fast, Vicky and Paula moved in and caught the boxes about to fall, steadying the stack and the girl carrying them.

"Thanks…" the quiet redhead mumbled.

"Want some help?" Amelia offered.

"I'm fi-" 'Dusk' started to say, only to again start to topple, with Betty casually reaching out to steady her. She sighed. "Okay, fine…"

Selena and Vicky took some of the boxes, splitting the load into thirds, and they & the others followed Dusk as she led them to where the boxes were meant to go, ending up in a currently-empty classroom.

"Need help with anything else?" Betty asked. "There's that project for fourth period due soon…"

'Dusk' looked at her with hostile suspicion. "What are you trying to do?" she asked. "Do you need to use me for something?"

Betty looked confused and slightly hurt. "I… W-We just noticed how you're always alone, you never hang out with anyone, and you seem… lonely and kinda sad…"

"…I'm fine on my own" the mysterious girl murmured, unable to completely keep the resigned sadness out of her voice.

"You don't want friends?" Selena asked.

"…Tried that before. Didn't work out… The only thing my so-called 'friends' taught me was that you can't trust _anyone_ …"

"What happened?" Vicky asked.

Seeing that she wasn't getting out of this, 'Dusk' sighed. "I used to be a bad person" she admitted. "I was a manipulative bully. I didn't understand empathy or friendship. But I learned. With some… outside help, I realized what kind of monster I was becoming, learned that friendship could apparently do, learned just how badly I'd hurt people… I turned my life around, I was broken down and had to build myself back from the ground up, went through lots of hell and torment… but I did it. I had five friends I trusted more than anyone; they'd given me a second chance, helped me rebuild and heal, saved my soul, showed me the warmth and light of friendship, was accepted by everyone as they saw how I'd changed…

"But then, someone – I have no idea who or why – framed me for something I didn't do. The _entire school_ fell for it, and I became even more hated than I had been before I changed. Nobody believed me when I tried to prove my innocence; they were all too happy to think I'd gone evil again. Everyone abandoned me…"

"But… W-What about your friends?" Betty asked.

"…They were the first ones to turn on me."

The girls gasped.

"Even as I begged and pleaded and wept for them to believe me, to not abandon me, they disowned me, they _attacked_ me! I… I gave up. I transferred out, moved out of my old state, came here; my old school never want to see me again, and they never will. And I've learned that friendship is _bullshit_ , and that you can't trust _anyone_. No-one could ever care for me, and anyone who pretends to is only doing it because they want something from me, or they want to break me some more for their sick kicks. That's the 'friendship lesson' life has taught me."

The girls looked shocked and horrified.

"H-How… could they…" Amelia whispered.

Deeply saddened at learning the pain 'Dusk' had been through, Betty looked at her with deep sympathy and care. Dusk wanted to rebuke her for 'fake' sympathy… but looking into the eyes of Betty and the others, she couldn't see any signs of falsehood, any hints of uncertainty or signs that their sympathy was anything but genuine. Her words died in her throat.

"Would you… like to work on the project together?" Betty asked, her voice soft. "We'll all do our shares, and help each other…"

"… …Sure" 'Dusk' finally answered.

Betty now had a goal: she would show 'Dusk' that she didn't have to be afraid of friendship, help her re-learn to trust again, and be the light to guide her out of the lonely darkness she was stuck in. They would save the girl from her bitter loneliness.

 _ **-CHAPTER END-**_

Will Betty and the others save 'Dusk' from the darkness she's in, help heal her heart? And what will the dark kingdom throw at them next?


	7. From The Brink

I really am gradually losing interest in this story, unfortunately...

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMERS**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

A few days and a couple Vishes later, the Cure Quintet were still doing what they could to get 'Dusk' to open up, little by little. The solemn redhead actually seemed to be responding, just a little, talking with the girls a bit more. And so, as the girls made ready for a little get-together, they decided…

"Hey, Dusk?" Betty asked.

"What?" the quiet girl looked up at her and the others.

"The girls and I were wondering if you were doing anything tomorrow night…"

"…Why?" 'Dusk' sounded a bit confused and suspicious.

"We wanted to invite you to a little get-together we're having tomorrow night – a slumber party!"

At the words 'slumber party', Dusk jerked like she'd been shot. "No thanks" she snapped.

"Oh, why not? We could do all sorts of stuff together! Watch cheesy movies, play videogames, share funny stories…"

"And then you'll all spring your trap, right? Something'll happen and you'll all turn against me and call me 'secret stealer' and then you'll abandon me just like _they_ did!"

The girls were shocked and stunned, with Betty looking a little hurt. "W-Why would you say that? How could you think we would do that?"

As she saw the confusion and hurt in the girls' eyes, 'Dusk' gained an expression of realization and shocked guilt. "I… I-I didn't…" she stammered. Then, she turned and ran.

"Dusk?! W-Wait! What's wrong?! Come back!"

"Whatever happened to her in the past," Vicky said, "maybe it started at a slumber party…"

Then, Betty took off, intent on doing something, anything she could, to try and help her hurting friend, the other four girls following close behind.

 **-X-**

Winding up in the park, 'Dusk' collapsed down onto a bench, burying her face in her hands. She'd blown it again, she'd cost herself friendship _again_ … First she'd thrown her mentor's kindness in her face, then she'd seen the light and turned her life around, learned the value of friendship, only for her 'friends' to turn on her with little provocation, and now she'd rejected and driven away the next group of girls to try and open their hearts to her.

'Maybe… It's _me_ …' she thought. 'Maybe I'm meant to not have friends… to be… all alone…'

As she sank further toward despair, she didn't notice a dark figure approaching…

-X-

As they headed in the vague direction they'd seen 'Dusk' go, the quintet sensed a sudden intense flare of dark magic – the energy of a Vish being formed, stronger than they'd ever sensed before. And the direction is came from…

"No…" Selena murmured.

Immediately, the girls transformed and rushed toward the park. When they got there, they caught sight of Black Spade leaving through a dark portal, and the biggest Vish yet – around 20 feet tall, with glowing red eyes in an angry shape, a dark-red body with deep purple flame patterns on the limbs, and a large blood-red gem-like sphere set into the center of its chest… and, inside was the outline of a person, a girl, curled up in the fetal position as she wallowed in despair. As the super-Vish spotted the five Cures, two halves of a barrier slid into place over the central sphere, snapping shut. Then it pointed its hand at them, and released a tight stream of intense flames.

The Cures scattered, leaping in different directions and barely avoiding the fire attack, feeling the heat of the dark-magic-imbued flames. Cure Volt dashed in, wreathing her fists in Lightning magic and starting to hammer at the shield over where 'Dusk' was being kept. Unfortunately, the shield proved to be very durable, withstanding Volt's blows without any signs of damage or strain. The monster than swatted her aside, sending her flying to be caught by Cure Gale.

A 'Sparkling Shot' from Cure Gleam slammed into the super-Vish from behind, but did very little damage. The beast turned to face her, and launched a large fireball at her. She leapt away, and when it hit the ground where she'd been it exploded with significant concussive force, the blast hurtling her through the air even though she'd cleared the flames. As the super-Vish began to turn toward another target, the ground beneath its feet turned against it, spears of stone shooting up in an attempt to skewer it. Unfortunately, Cure Terra's attack didn't accomplish much other than briefly knocking the Vish off-balance, and it quickly regained its footing, snapped off one of the rock spears, and chucked it at Cure Hydro, forcing her to cancel out her gathering attack and dodge.

Realizing that standard attacks weren't working, the Cures went up a level. Hydro and Terra combined their water and earth magics to summon a mass of mud at the super-Vish's feet, rising to engulf its feet up to the ankles and then rapidly hardening into dense earth, trapping the monster. Volt & Gale fired several slicing waves of electrified wind, cutting into the Vish's durable hide and shocking it. However, the beast proved to still be more durable than expected, taking relatively little damage from the strikes. It roared as its power flared, the air around it wavering with heat as it yanked its feet free and then ducked to dodge a Sparkling Arrow that had been aimed at its head. The girls then tried to rush at the super-Vish from different directions all at once, but it let out a roar and emitted a mighty gust of hot wind that blew them away.

"This isn't going too well…" Cure Volt groaned as she picked herself up. "Is there anything we haven't tried?"

"I don't think so…" Cure Terra replied.

"We have to do _something_ " Cure Gleam said. "We've gotta help 'Dusk'! …Maybe… I can try to reach her…"

Closing her eyes, Gleam extended her emotion-sensing ability, trying to peer back the veil of raging fury that was the Vish. Soon, she managed to detect 'Dusk'… and felt a chill through her heart as she sensed the magnitude of the other girl's bitterness, despair, and self-loathing. The Vish fired another flame blast at Cure Gleam, who leapt out of the way and over to the other girls while keeping hold of her 'link' to Dusk, trying to push it deeper, to get the other girl to hear her…

Suddenly, she felt the other four Cures' hands on her, felt their spirits bolstering hers, joining together with her. They pushed harder…

…

The girl known as 'Dusk' floated in a dark abyss of loneliness and despair. This was where she belonged, cold and alone in the dark…

"…k… …sk!"

What was that?

"Dusk!"

Slowly, her eyes opened, and she was met with the sight of Betty, Vicky, Amelia, Paula, and Selena, all of them wreathed in beautifully-glowing magic light – pink, green, sky-blue, orange, and deep-blue. It felt like the same energy as those magical girls at the mall, she realized. …Her friends were the magical-girl team?

"Dusk…" Betty/Gleam said. "We're here. We came for you…"

"…Why?" she murmured. "Why would you come for me? I… I'm not worth it… I'm not meant to have friends… Everything always goes wrong… I'm fated to be alone…"

"No, you're not! You may have been bad once, but you've learned the power and joy of friendship. What your former friends did to you is unforgivable. But not everyone is like that! You're our _friend_ , 'Dusk'! Even if we don't know everything about you, even your real name, we still see you as our friend! Please, give friendship another chance! Give _us_ a chance!"

"We'll help you however we can" Selena/Hydro told her.

"We won't lie to or hide things from you" Paula/Terra assured.

"We'll help you learn how to smile and laugh again" Amelia/Gale said.

"We can show you how kind true friends are supposed to be" Vicky/Volt added.

"Please…" Betty/Gleam extended her hand.

Looking at the girls with wide eyes, 'Dusk' came to a decision… and reached out to take the offered hand…

…

Back in the 'outside' world, the super-Vish suddenly froze up, twitching, as light shone from within the shielded dome on its chest. The two-part shield snapped over it was shattered from within, leaving the gem exposed, the obscured figure inside now carrying a faint glow around her. The beast groaned as its internal energies became chaotic and uncontrolled, rendering it all but helpless.

(GROUP FINISHER ATTACK #1 MUSIC: _Smile PreCure_ – "Rainbow Healing")

"Now's our chance!" Cure Volt shouted.

The five girls leapt into action, beginning to hammer the super-Vish with magic-enhanced blows. This time, the monster was visibly reacting to the hits, being flinched and knocked around by them. After softening the beast up for a while, the girls surrounded it, standing as the five points of a star. They held their hands forward, as their bodies glowed with their respective magic colors. Beams of pink, green, light-blue, orange, and deep-blue light shot out, but instead of striking the Vish directly they linked together to form a crystalline-looking field or cage around the monster. Then, the lights brightened,

Group: " _PreCure: Purity Prism Flash!-!_ "

The inside of the vaguely star-shaped prism of magic and energy was filled with near-blinding white light. From within, the super-Vish let out a final roar as it was disintegrated, its energies being utterly erased. When the light faded, 'Dusk' slowly floated down to the ground, unharmed.

(MUSIC END)

The prism of light faded away, and the girls hurried to Dusk's side. She awoke to see them de-transforming, as Betty and Selena kneeled down to help her.

"You don't have to be alone anymore…" Betty said to her. "We're here, 'Dusk'."

The redhead choked back a sob, tears building in her eyes. "T… Thank you…" she whispered.

She tried to stand, but stumbled and was caught by Vicky.

"Easy" the shorter-haired girl said. "Don't push yourself. We can stay here as long as you need.

She and the others sat down with 'Dusk', trying to comfort and support her with their presence. The girl let out a long sigh, running a finger through her gold-streaked red hair, and soon the tiniest of smiles appeared on her face.

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**


	8. Sunrise

My interest in finishing this is still waning...

 **SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR DISCLAIMER**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

The next day, the Cure girls and 'Dusk' were finishing going over a written project due soon, helping each other cover any gaps and fix little mistakes. Suddenly, they sensed the creation of a Vish, about a couple miles away from the feel of it. The five young heroines hurried off, with 'Dusk' following just in case there was anything she, with her knowledge about magic (which she still hadn't told the others how she had), could do.

-X-

" _PreCure: Geo Smasher!_ "

With Cure Terra's finishing strike, another Vish was vanquished. The girls were about to wrap things up and head home, when suddenly a shimmering barrier formed around the empty parking lot this battle had taken place in, trapping them and the partially-hidden 'Dusk' inside. They felt a powerful and wicked evil energy make itself known, and then turned as they heard footsteps.

"You girls have caused us quite a bit of trouble…" Black Diamond said as he strolled up. "It seems that no matter how many Grumps we send after you, how many Vishes we create and unleash, you keep triumphing, living to get in our way another day. So, to put an end to this whole thing…" He showed off a fanged, wicked grin. "I've decided to deal with you all myself."

Black Diamond was enveloped in a dark aura of wavering deep blue and purple, and the girls balked as they sensed just how powerful a 'dark general' really was. He lifted his cane and shifted his grip, holding it like a sword, as dark magic gathered around it, wreathing it in a close, bright glow that made it look almost like a lightsaber. Then, he charged with startling speed. Cure Volt barely managed to form her Spark Saber in time to block Black Diamond's opening strike, and there was so much force behind it that even with her magic-enhanced strength, she was nearly knocked off her feet. He pushed, she found herself being shoved back, her vibrant green energy blade being pushed perilously close to her own face.

Cure Terra came in from the side with a super-strength punch, but Black Diamond almost-casually brought one arm up to catch her blow; he winced ever-so-slightly, but managed to stop her strike cold, to her shock. He then grabbed hold of her and Cure Volt, and slammed the two girls together like cymbals, stunning them both. He then went for a killing strike with his cane/sword, only for a focused water blast from Cure Hydro to push him back, giving Volt & Terra enough time to recover and get distance.

Realizing they were going to need to put their all into it to have a chance against this guy, the girls focused their power, steeling themselves for a hard battle. They each fired an attack of their respective element, but he formed five shimmering diamond-shaped energy shields; though dividing his power five ways meant the shields had some signs of fracture, they held and protected him from the attacks. The shields then fragmented into storms of diamond-shaped razor-sharp solid-magic projectiles, and the girls only partially managed to block or dodge the hits, their outfits accruing tears & gashes while converting the attack's harm into 'magical damage' to protect their bodies; there was only so much punishment their powers could protect them from, though.

Cure Terra punched the ground, conjuring a fissure in the earth that raced toward Black Diamond. Unfortunately, he simply leapt high to dodge and then swung his glowing cane to release a slicing wave of dark magic at her; she rolled to dodge, barely avoiding losing a limb. Cure Volt charged in with Spark Saber in hand, entering a quick dual with Black Diamond, and neither one managed to break through the other's defense to land a blow. She ducked under a swing aimed at her neck and lanced out with a kick that would cave a normal man's ribcage in, but earned little more than a grunt from her beyond-human opponent.

Cures Terra and Gale began charging up a combination attack. However, Black Diamond – sensing how dangerous it could be – wouldn't allow that, dashing in and landing a strike that forced the girls to break off their preparations and separate to avoid taking serious damage. Deciding that it was time to finish things before the Cures got lucky, Black Diamond charged a large amount of dark magic into his staff, and then slammed it down to the ground, releasing a lightning-fast wave of energy across the ground in the area. In a flash, the girls let out cries of surprise as giant translucent purple-hued crystals formed around them, trapping them; the crystals were too durable for even them to burst out of, as the Cures found out upon trying to break free.

"Now," he said, "to make the crystals crush you into paste, one by one, while the others watch. But who to start with? Hmm… 'Cut off the head of a snake, and the body dies'…"

With an evil grin, he turned to face the now-frightened Cure Gleam. He rose his hand, about to start making the crystal slowly compress… when suddenly a small bolt of teal magic flew in and struck him from behind; it wasn't enough to seriously hurt him, but it knocked him forward and disrupted his concentration enough to save Cure Gleam. Growling, her turned to see 'Dusk' glaring at him, hand outstretched, a thin aura of magical energy clinging to her. Black Diamond's frown became a smirk; this girl was weaker than the Cures, not strong enough to truly stand a chance against him.

"And just what do we have here?" he said.

"Dusk, _run_!" Cure Gleam shouted. "Forget about us! Get out of here!"

"…I can't do that. No matter what, I can't just abandon my friends!"

'Dusk' began to charge up another mana bolt, but Black Diamond simply raised his hand and fired his own bolt first, knocking Dusk back and cutting off her attempt to attack; to her, it felt like being punched by a professional boxer. He lifted his staff, which pulsed with light, and then multiple dark-purple bolts of magic formed floating all around 'Dusk', boxing her in. He snapped his fingers, and they came flying in from all sides, pummeling 'Dusk', who was stumbled and shoved around rapidly by the consecutive impacts.

'Dusk' fell to her hands & knees, shaking from the exhaustion and pain she now felt all over. After several seconds, though, she struggled back to her feet.

"It doesn't matter… what you do to me…" she forced out. "I've finally found a group of people that I can… I can trust again… People who actually _care_ about me… I'm not leaving them!"

"…Hmph" Black Diamond pointed his cane's tip at her. "Then you can die with them. Is that what you want?"

He charged a large, roiling mass of black & purple dark magic, and let it fly.

"No matter what…" 'Dusk' gritted out. "I will not… _abandon… my friends!-!_ "

Just as the dark-magic blast got close, a shimmering red barrier sprang up in its path, absorbing it harmlessly. As Black Diamond and the Cures stared in shock, motes of red light came into being and began to swirl around 'Dusk', before suddenly coming together and taking the familiar form of a heart-shaped brooch, and a small spherical red gem. A look of surprise shifted to one of determination, as 'Dusk' took hold of her new destiny.

(TRANSFORMATION MUSIC: _Mahōtsukai PreCure_ – Ruby Form)

In the middle of a 'realm' of swirling red light, 'Dusk' – clad in a shimmering short 'dress' of red sparkles – clasped her hands together in front of her chest, and then pulled them apart to reveal the brooch and gem. "PreCure! Elements _Charge!-!_ "

She pushed them together, grabbed the gem-holding brooch and spun it a couple of times, and then slammed it into her chest. It burst into a wave of flames that raced over her torso, conforming to her body. The flames were blown away to reveal a red & white outfit with orange lining, a golden-yellow bow on the chest with a red gem in the center, and a thigh-length red skirt.

Her forearms were wreathed in flames, and as she punched forward the flames transformed into mid-length white gloves with red gems set into the backs of the hands. She stomped her foot, and fire curled up around it, around her skirt-clad hips and down the other leg, the flames fading to reveal matching knee-length boots with small red hearts on the toes.

Flames danced and whirled above her head, coalescing into a simple golden headband with red, orange, and yellow gems in it. She put it on, and her hair was enveloped in shining golden flames that burned away to reveal her hair was now golden-yellow with orange highlights. She opened her eyes, and her teal irises turned red.

"Cleansing flames," she called out, fire whirling around her, "burning bright!" With an explosive burst, the flames raced out from her, shining like a star. " _Cure Solar!-!_ "

(MUSIC END)

As the five captive Cures stared in awe, Black Diamond gaped in shocked horror.

"A _sixth_ PreCure?-! That wasn't in the prophecy!"

Cure Solar took off, charging at Black Diamond. The dark general panicked and fired several blasts at her, but she ducked and wove around them without breaking stride, closing in. She wreathed her fist in flames as she struck out, hammering into Black Diamond and sending him flying, the suit over his chest left partially burnet away and smoldering. Landing on his feet, he snarled and prepared to fire a larger blast at her. However, she conjured and fired a wave of fiery mana bolts first, forcing Black Diamond to defend instead and even landing a few more hits on him, hits which were heavier than he expected, doing more damage.

Growling, Black Diamond charged power into his staff and slammed it to the ground, releasing the crystal-prison spell waves. But Cure Solar leapt high to avoid them, and somehow formed jets of flame from her feet to keep herself airborne for longer. Then, she used this propulsion to charge down at an angle straight at her foe, landing a mighty blow that sent him reeling. As she passed by him she used a brief burst of flame to launch herself right back at him, landing another strike. She repeated a few more times, using her flames to dash at him and add force to her strikes, as well as directly augmenting her blows with fiery magic. She finished with a heel-drop that slammed Black Diamond into the ground so hard that he left a small crater.

As Black Diamond groaned and tried to get up, Cure Solar leapt high, and as her eyes glowed with power glaring down at him, the sun was at her back. She held her arms forward, wrists pressed together and hands & fingers splayed out in a sunburst pattern, as a very large amount of magic gathered there very quickly.

"Burn…" she said. " _PreCure: Corona Flare!-!_ "

A focused wave of yellow & white Fire magic shot out, engulfing Black Diamond. The 'dark general', member of the infamous Black Card Quartet, was incinerated before he even had a chance to scream. As the flames and smoke faded away, so too did the crystals imprisoning the other five Elemental Cures. Once freed, they hurried over to Cure Solar, embracing her in a group hug.

"I can't believe it!" Cure Volt said. "You're a Cure like us, Dusk!"

"I can barely believe it myself" the girl replied. "It feels _incredible_ … And, more than that, I can finally fight alongside you girls – I can finally repay you for all that you've done to help me. My friends…"

-X-

Back at Betty's house, the girls and Pixee were gathered, with the little fairy deeply surprised by 'Dusk' becoming a sixth Element Pretty Cure.

"Still," Pixee said, "I won't look a gift goat in the mouth."

"Horse," Paula replied, "not goat."

"…Human idioms are confusing…"

"Don't I know it…" 'Dusk' mumbled.

"I think it's safe to say our chances of winning this fight just got better" Amelia remarked. "And it's thanks to 'Dusk'!"

The other girl shook her head with a little smile. "I never would have come this far without you girls' help. You saved me from the darkness and loneliness I was trapped in. You helped me re-learn the warmth and magic of friendship."

"I'm just so glad that you trust and care for us as much as we do for you, 'Dusk'." Betty said.

"…I think it actually might be time," 'Dusk' said, seeming a bit nervous but strangely comfortable at the same time, "time to tell you girls my actual name. It's a bit… 'weird', compared to yours…"

"That doesn't matter" Selena said, and the other girls nodded in agreement. "You're our _friend_."

The newest Cure's smile got wider. "My name… My name is Sunset". She tucked a lock of her gold-streaked red hair back. "Sunset Shimmer."

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

Ta-da!

Now, important thing: if you haven't read - or at least know the plot of - the IDW comics' 2014 Equestria Girls Holiday Special, _Sunset's backstory and plight, why she's here instead of there, will make_ _ **no sense to you**_. That's because the hinted-at event where everyone turned on her, that drove her to leave her old home and come all the way out to wherever this fic takes place, was the Anon-A-Miss Incident. Here, the Crusaders didn't confess / get uncovered until it was too late, after Sunset had already given up and fled. Also, Sunset's attempts to contact Twilight for help failed, for reasons that will be explained soon enough.

Also, whoever manages fic data: please do not mark this as a Pretty Cure / Friendship Is Magic crossover or move it to the X-over section; the fact it's a crossover is supposed to be a SURPRISE until the reader reaches this chapter.

Well, see you guys next time (if I still have the will to keep writing this fic, anyway...)


	9. Shadows From The Past

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR PRETTY-CURE DISCLAIMER**

 _ **My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic**_ **belongs to Hasbro**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

The past couple of days after Black Diamond's defeat had been relatively peaceful. Sunset had given a bit more detail about her past, including the 'Anon-A-Miss Incident' that had turned her friends and everyone else in the school against her, breaking her spirit and leading her to abandon that area and move way out here. After a little more prodding from the girls ("It's too far-fetched and fanciful, you'd never believe me" "Uh, we're _magical girls_ ; your argument is invalid"), she'd told them the whole story about who and what she was. The fact that Sunset was literally a magical talking unicorn pony from another dimension honestly didn't surprise the other Cures as much as it should have…

Right now, the sextet was at the park, discussing strategy ideas in-between more idle talks. However, they were about to be in for a big and unwelcome surprise…

"Holy crap… _Sunset_?!"

The sextet turned in the direction of the surprise voice, and Sunset's blood can cold. Staring at her with shock and guilt were five certain girls, five ghosts from her past that she'd dearly hoped would stay buried.

"It… It's really you…" Fluttershy murmured, shocked. "W-We were so…"

Sunset's surprise gave way to anger, and she snarled as she got to her feet. " _You_ people?! What the hell are you doing here?! Did you come to hunt me down?!"

"RD's uncle lives around these parts" Applejack hastily defended. "He invited us to come. We had no idea this was where y'all had run off to!"

Before Sunset could say anything else, Pinkie blurted out: "It was the Crusaders!"

"…What?" While still angry, Sunset was left confused by that sudden outburst.

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle were jealous of you 'stealing' their sisters, so they… started the whole Anon-A-Miss thing to try and drive us away from you so they'd 'get their sisters back'. And then some people started submitting more things for them to post, everything snowballed, and …"

"You mean to tell me," Selena spoke up, as she and the other Cure girls took position around Sunset, all glaring at the 'Human Five', "that because of three little girls being unwilling to share their siblings, our friend's _life_ was ruined?!"

"We know how you were the first ones to turn on her," Amelia declared angrily, "how you turned your backs on her right when she needed you most!"

"You betrayed her!" Vicky shouted at them. "You almost-permanently destroyed her ability to trust _anyone_ ever again!"

The newcomers looked horribly guilty and broken, a few of them starting to quietly cry.

"…You abandoned me" Sunset ground out, fighting back her own tears. "You dumped me the _second_ you got the chance. You never really trusted or believed in me. Everyone abandoned and turned on me – my so-called 'friends', the school, the Princess-"

"Twilight didn't abandon you" Rainbow interjected. "At least, not intentionally. It turns out that… well, things got really damn crazy back on Equestria at about the same time the Anon-A-Miss Incident was going on here on Earth. First, she accidentally forgot her communication journal when she went to the royal sisters' castle for a few days. Then, before she could get to it again, some kinda big nasty broke free of containment – some demon-guy called Tirek."

At that, Sunset's hot anger was temporarily doused in cold dread. "T… T-Tirek? The… The Dark Lord Tirek from the old stories? The magic-eating demon lord?"

"Eeyup" Applejack nodded. "And apparently, in his & Twilight's final battle, Twi's house got blown to smithereens. The journal was safe in the basement, but the basement got buried under all the rubble. Between dealin' with Tirek and the cleanup afterwards, she didn't get a chance to look at the journal and yer messages again 'til… 'til it was way too late…"

Slowly, cautiously, Rainbow Dash approached while pulling a familiar journal out of her backpack. Paula took it and then brought it to Sunset, who clutched it close. Twilight hadn't abandoned her after all; she'd just been up to her flanks in grave trouble at home…

"Everyone back at Canterlot High is really beating themselves up over… over how we all treated you…" Pinkie said. "…Principal Celestia had to expel a few people who tried to seriously hurt the Crusaders in the aftermath, and she managed to track down everyone who deliberately submitted secrets for Anon-A-Miss and punish them as well. A-And… we've discovered that the five of us… can't access the powers of the Elements of Harmony anymore… Just like we turned our backs on you, the Elements have abandoned _us_ ; we're not… not worthy of them anymore…"

"As soon as she realized what had happened," Rarity chimed in, "Twilight crossed over and… I've never seen anyone so angry. She denounced us, denounced the entire school, and… said that if any magical threat ever comes for our school again, she will not help us. We'll be left to fend for ourselves…"

"Sunset, we… we're so sorry!" Rainbow Dash cried out, tears falling. "We screwed up! T-The way we treated you was-"

"Was _unforgivable_!" Sunset snapped, interrupting. "I thought I could believe in you girls, but you threw me aside the _second_ things looked bad! The entire _school_ did! I had nothing, no-one! I wanted to _die_! If I try to give you girls another chance, the moment I so much as say the wrong _word_ you'll turn on me again! I can't go through that a second time! I can't trust you, because you never trusted _me_! So thanks for the book, but _get out of my sight_! I never want to see or hear from any of you again! _Get out! Of my! Life!-!_ "

With tears in her eyes full of pained rage, she pointed her palm at them, and an orb of seething teal-hued magic formed, ready to release. Heartbroken and fearing for their safety, the 'Humane Five' turned and fled. Betty came up to Sunset just as the girl burst into tears, holding her close, the other four coming in close to help comfort her however they could. It was like the wound that had been slowly healing had been ripped open again… Betty, Vicky, Amelia, Paula, and Selena did what they could to comfort their friend, doing what her old 'friends' didn't…

- _SCENE BREAK_ -

As they made their way back towards Dash's uncle's place, the five girls were devastated; Pinkie and Fluttershy still couldn't stop quietly sobbing, Rarity and Dash had something of a lifeless, haunted look in their eyes, and Applejack had long since stopped trying to hide her tears with the brim of her hat. Their slim hope of reconciliation had been dashed; Sunset had declared their actions beyond any pardon or forgiveness, had rejected them utterly, had even threatened to attack them with a magic blast if they didn't get out of her sight.

And then, the dark, solemn mood received a sudden and very unexpected interruption. A giant monster (well, about 15 feet tall) came flying in, still soaked from the Water-style attack that had sent it airborne, landing with a ground-shaking thud nearby and promptly getting back on its feet. As the quintet ran for cover, six girls in different-colored matching frilly outfits leapt in, brimming with magical power that they were already resuming firing at the monster. Cure Gale called out her Tearing Twister, but the Vish crossed its arms and anchored its feet, withstanding the wind blast with only surface damage. The 'Humane Five' felt like Gale's voice had sounded somehow familiar…

…And then Cure Solar called out her attack, and the five girls instantly recognized her voice, her body type and face… Somehow, Sunset and her new friends were superhero magical girls.

"It's another of the tougher ones" Cure Volt remarked. "…So, who wants to make a combo attack to finish things this time?"

Cure Gale stepped up beside Cure Solar, and the two girls shared a confident grin as they began to meld their magical energies. The other four kept the Vish busy as the duo charged up, a whirling mass of Wind and Fire magic forming between Cure Gale's outstretched right hand and Cure Solar's left. Finally, the team's newest combo attack was ready, and they let it fly:

"PreCure: Blaze Tornado!-!"

The blast of mixed magic shot out, and when it impacted the Vish it detonated into a huge swirling vortex of intense flames supercharged by the slicing wind, like a whirling tornado of flames and razors. The monster let out a fading roar as it was quickly eroded away and destroyed by the powerful combination attack, leaving nothing but particles of Darkness that quickly winked out.

As the six Cures congratulated each other, the hidden five knew that Sunset truly had no need of them anymore, that they would never again have a place in her life.

- _BREAK_ -

In the aftermath of the latest battle, Sunset decided to bite the bullet and try to contact Princess Twilight. Opening the journal, and finding Twilight's desperate apologies and pleas for a reply from when she finally found her rubble-buried copy of the journal and learned – too late – what had transpired in the human world, Sunset sighed and wrote in a fairly long message informing Twilight of what had happened with her: her leaving human-world Canterlot far, far behind and coming to a new city, closing herself off from everyone only to meet five girls who understood and accepted her, getting involved in "a major magical incident with no connection to Equestria-style magic; could use some help with this one, Princess", and learning from her _former_ friends about the Tirek Incident. After taking a deep, slow breath, Sunset sent the message, and waited for the inevitable reply.

In about 30 seconds, she got a reply that she never would've expected, as with a flash of light Twilight teleported into the room a few feet from her. How had Twilight figured out how to keep her magic when she crossed over? The purple-haired girl then all but tackled Sunset in a crushing hug, nearly in tears and frantically blurting out apologies for not being there to help or defend her.

"Twilight, _Twilight_!" Sunset interrupted, peeling the girl off. "It's okay! I learned about the whole 'Tirek' thing; I know now it wasn't your fault, that you didn't help me because you _couldn't_ help me, being busy handling a rampaging demon-lord and all that."

"Still, I… I should have been able to help you… I should have been there to stop things from deteriorating so badly…"

Sunset shook her head. "There's nothing you could have done. Their minds were set on seeing me guilty, and they probably would have turned on _you_ if you tried too hard to defend me before the truth came out."

Unable to think of anything to say in response, Twilight just sighed. "So… What's this new magical incident you're involved in?"

"Come on; I'll introduce you to the other girls who are in this with me, as well as the little fairy who explained it to us."

About 20 minutes later, Pixee and the Cures had more or less finished explaining everything to the human-form princess – the prophecy of the legendary warriors, what little they knew of their evil enemies, the nature of the Pretty Cures' abilities and powers…

"Okay…" Twilight rubbed at her temples. "This is quite a bit bigger than I expected. I'm going to take this information to the other Princesses, see if they have any insight. In the meantime…"

Twilight pulled out some sort of small amulet, with a magenta-hued gemstone. She charged it with a bit of her magic, then handed it to Sunset.

"What's this?" Sunset asked.

"Think of it as a beacon. Long story short, I'll be able to detect you and teleport right to you as needed, instead of having to follow the journal's signal which I did earlier, since that takes longer and if you're in a life-or-death situation, 8 to 10 seconds can mean a big difference. I'll ask Celestia about setting up a new trans-dimensional portal closer to here, too."

She stood up, straightening her skirt. "I'd better get going. The Princesses need to know about this whole mess you girls have gotten tangled into. I promise I'll come back, though, and you still have the journal if you need to contact me."

"Right" Betty nodded. "Thank you for the help, Princess Twilight."

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**


	10. Spirit Of Song

**SEE CHAPTER ONE FOR PARTIAL DISCLAIMERS**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

A couple days later, Betty and Amelia were hanging out at the arcade. Having had their fun with a zombie-shooting game and a dance machine, they were trying out at karaoke. …Unfortunately, it seemed they weren't very good at it; neither of them could get scores above 60.

"Wow" a new voice cut in. "You girls have, like, never really tried to sing before, have ya?"

Betty and Amelia turned to see a girl they didn't know, around their age, her two-hued hair up in a high ponytail.

"I'm not, like, saying you're super- _bad_ singers," she continued, "but… y'see, my family and I are, like, really into singing, and you two sound like you've never, like, had proper training. Some people are naturally gifted with singing, but for the rest you, like, need to be trained on how to avoid getting flat an' junk, how to breathe right… I can, like, totally tell you two girls are untrained, but not, like, inherently _bad_. …Want me to teach you a thing or two?"

For the next 20 minutes or so, the girl coached Betty and Amelia through an impromptu singing lesson, helping them develop their raw, unrefined technique into something workable. By the time she was done with them, the girls were scoring low-to-mid 80s on the karaoke machine. They thanked the mystery girl for her help, and she cheerfully waved goodbye as she left.

"…We never got her name" Amelia realized.

-X-

The Element Cures hurried toward an open area where they'd sensed a Vish being formed. They found themselves in a mostly empty part of town, in a spread-out area with very little in the way of buildings. They spread out to cover more fields of vision, hoping to locate the seemingly-absent enemy.

This proved to be a mistake, and exactly what the three remaining Black Card members had planned.

Six barrier fields sprang up, separating the girls from each other. Then, six Vishes dropped in, one for each Cure. What's more, each Cure was faced with a Vish that seemed to be empowered with their respective element – a Light-type Vish against Cure Gleam, a Lightning-wielding one facing Cure Volt, Cure Gale faced one with currents of tearing Wind circulating around it, a Vish with dark stone armor that had spiky crystals jutting out of it stared Cure Terra down, water formed into semi-solid blades on the arms of the Vish facing Cure Hydro, and Cure Solar was faced with a Vish wreathed in Fire power.

Separated from their teammates, and forced to fight against opponents who wielded their elements against them…

"Well, crap" Cure Volt summed up.

Cure Gleam rolled to the side to dodge a concussive blast of Light magic, and returned fire with her own, only for the Vish to cross its arms in front and withstand the shot. She charged with a Light-infused punch, but the Vish responded in kind; as their fists clashed, the force sent them both skidding back on their heels. In the 'next' barrier over, Cure Volt rolled and leapt to avoid the shock strikes her Vish opponent was raining down on her. She formed her Spark Saber and swung at the monster's chest, but the solid-lightning blade barely made a dent in the Vish's Lightning-imbued thick hide.

Cure Gale grunted as she was sent hurtling back by a blast of wind from her opponent that tore at her Pretty-Cure outfit. She returned fire with a cannonball of compressed Wind magic, but the hit did minimal damage to the Vish. Meanwhile, Cure Terra leapt high to avoid spears of stone that shot up out of the ground at her, and conjured a wave of sand aimed at her enemy's head, but the Vish turned to avoid taking a hit to its eyes, denying her that chance for a counterattack. Spikes of ice flew at Cure Hydro, who dodged most of them and then caught the last one and threw it back. The Water-wielding Vish dodged her attempt to use its own projectile against it, and lashed out with a water-whip that knocked Hydro away; she barely managed to catch herself and land on her feet. In the 'next' barrier zone over, Cure Solar winced as her stream of flame pushed against her opponent Vish's, neither one managing to overpower the other.

"This isn't good…" Cure Gleam remarked. "How are we gonna get through this?"

Suddenly, something new cut into the fray: the echoing notes of three feminine voices singing a wordless harmony. The Cures couldn't tell where it was coming from, but they definitely noticed what came with the music: a sudden feeling of strength and courage welling up inside them. In addition, the Vishes groaned and flinched, as the music somehow began to adversely affect them, slightly disorienting them.

Cure Solar, assisted by the spell-song's boost, finally won her shoving match with her Vish opponent, blasting the monster with conjured fire so intense that the monster was damaged by it despite its own Fire typing. Dashing in and landing a few flame-enhanced blows, she then clambered up the monster's body, formed a lashing whip of sharp flames that glowed near-white with heat, and swung at the Vish's neck. She landed in a crouch behind the Vish, dispelling her flame whip with a flick of her wrist, and the monster's head hit the ground before the rest of its body did, both parts dissolving into Darkness.

The Rock-type Vish stumbled as a powered-up blow from Cure Terra shattered its chest armor. It knelt down, one gauntlet clutching at the damage, and Cure Terra grabbed one of the spiky crystals coming from its armor, chopped at the base and severed the object, and then rammed the pointy end into the Vish's face. The beast toppled over, breaking apart. Cure Hydro, meanwhile, surrounded her opponent's head in a large mass of conjured Water, and then made it compress until it was at deep-sea level pressure, crushing the monster's head.

Cure Gale ducked under a wind blade from her opponent Vish, and released an overcharged Tearing Twister that rapidly bored a hole through the weakened monster's chest. As Gale's enemy fell dead, Cure Volt tanked a shock blast from her Vish enemy and leapt onto the monster's shoulders. Charging her Spark Saber with power, she jammed it into the Vish's head and then had its stored energy released, discharging the power into the Vish's body. The monster seized and twitched, toppling over still sparking, its body soon breaking apart.

Cure Gleam dodged a cluster-shot of Light bolts, and then struck at the Vish's leg with a Light-charged kick so powerful the monster's limb was nearly snapped in two. As the Vish fell to one knee, Gleam hit it with a glowing-fisted rising uppercut that rocked its head up & back. Then, she leapt up over its head and fired a supercharged Sparkling Arrow right down into the top of its skull. The Vish fell face-down, and began to disintegrate.

With all six Vishes vanquished, the barrier fields came down, allowing the Element Cures to reunite. They then took notice of their mysterious saviors: three figures, around their size, wrapped in dull-grey hooded cloaks. Cure Solar sensed they were formed by magic, not physical cloth.

"Who are you?" Cure Gleam asked. "Why did you help us?"

"We originally came to find one of you girls" the lead figure said, speaking in a girl's voice. "We recognize your magical signature, Sunset Shimmer."

Cure Solar stiffened. "Who are you, and how do you know who I am? Why did you come here?"

"…To _thank_ you."

She pulled back her hood, to reveal a head of rather poofy yellow-streaked orange hair. Cure Solar immediately went on edge as the leader of the Sirens revealed herself, but the girl in question made no threatening moves. In fact, she was smiling warmly at Sunset, an expression mirrored by her two siblings as they revealed themselves.

"We came into being during the Tribal Era of Equestria," Adagio explained, "the 'Era of Strife'. …There's a human phrase, 'You are what you eat', and in our case, it was kinda literal."

"We Sirens can technically feed on _any_ ambient emotion" Aria Blaze said. "But back then, all there was to feed on was strife, mistrust, anger, bitterness, hatred… Getting so much of that for so long, and nothing else… It changed us, corrupted us. It twisted our souls…"

"But, like, when you and your friends… oops, I mean, you and your _ex_ -friends, blasted us with the Harmony Elements' power," Sonata Dusk chimed in, "it purified us! It, like, stripped the corruption from our hearts, cleansed our minds and souls of that taint! _And_ it restored our ability to gain sustenance and energy from _all_ ambient emotional energy, not just from, like, negative emotions! You _saved_ us, Sunny!"

Part of Sunset wanted to distrust these girls, even drive them away… but she would be doing to them what had been done to her in the past. Plus, she could sense they weren't lying; the dark taint to their energy she'd felt back then was totally absent. She de-transformed, coming forward.

"I guess… I should say thanks. If you girls hadn't used your spell-songs to boost our power and weaken that of those Vishes, that fight would've taken a lot longer. And if they'd managed to outlast us, make us burn through our stamina…"

"It probably wouldn't have been pretty" Aria summed up. "We've been sensing these things all over recently; anyone with magical sensitivity feels the flare of dark magic whenever one's made. Plus, the non-evil magical energies you girls are throwing around… So, what exactly's going on?"

"We don't know too much about them" Cure Gleam admitted. "They're led by a 'Dark Queen' and 'Dark King', and they had four field-commanders called the 'Black Quartet', but Sunset here managed to kill Black Diamond when she first got her Pretty Cure powers. We know they're somehow gathering the energies released during the creation of a Vish, but we don't know why."

"That's a lot of unknowns…" Adagio muttered. "Nothin' to it, I guess. If we find out anything, we'll let you girls know. Here" she pulled out a small green gem. "You can use this to contact us if you need to. We have one we can use to call you if we need _your_ help, as well."

"And if you were wanna, like, hang out, that's cool too!" Sonata added.

"That sounds nice" Cure Gale said. "Thanks for teaching me and Betty at the arcade earlier, by the way." Cure Gleam nodded in agreement.

The somewhat ditzy Siren let out a little 'happy-gasp'. "Omigosh, that was _you_?! Oh wow, small world!"

"We'd better get going" Adagio said. "We'll be in touch if you need us."

As the trio left, Sunset sighed. "My old friends are now my enemies, and some of my biggest old enemies are now friends…"

Vicky put a hand on her shoulder. "Well, whatever's going on, we've got more allies now. That's always good, right?"

"Come on" Paula said as she de-transformed. "Let's get somethin' to eat."

-X-

In the dark realm, Black Heart left the chamber of her dark king & queen. Looking down at her hand as dark power swirled around it, feeling the increase in power that Their Dark Majesties had gifted to her, she let out a soft, evil chuckle.

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

It's a bad sign when working on a fic feels more like a chore than anything else...


	11. Harmony

**SEE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS FOR DISCLAIMERS**

 **-** ** _CHAPTER START_** **-**

A couple days later, the girls were alert for any trouble; there hadn't been any Vishes since the element-using six on the day the Sirens joined the team (so to speak), and by now the quiet had them a bit anxious as they wondered what their enemy might be plotting next.

When the dark-magic flare of a Vish's creation was finally detected again, the whole team moved to intercept. Reaching a small park on the edge of town, they found the Vish – black and magenta, around 14 feet tall… and not alone.

"Hello, girls…" Black Heart waved, a wicked smirk on her face. "Wanna play?"

She snapped her fingers, and the Vish charged. The monster moved with surprisingly swiftness, slamming its fist down in a narrowly-dodged attempt to smash Cures Gleam and Volt while also releasing a damaging shockwave across the ground. Before Gleam could reorient herself, Black Heart joined the fray with a kick to Gleam's side that sent her crashing down into and tumbling across the ground. The dark commander struck swiftly before the other Cures could fully process her sudden joining the fray, nailing Cures Solar and Gale with a dual dark-power blast that stunned and knocked them away.

Cure Terra formed and launched a cluster of stone spears at Black Heart and the Vish, and though the big monster took a hit the lithe enemy field-commander avoided the projectiles aimed at her. Black Heart then returned fire with a blast of dark magic that near-shattered the wall of stone Cure Terra conjured as a shield, sending her staggering back a little. A water bomb from Cure Hydro was deflected by a shimmering purple barrier Black Heart made just by holding her palm out at the incoming attack, but the dispersed water formed into spearing tendrils and tried to stab at her, forcing her to jump back a bit, frowning at being caught by surprise like that.

Cure Gleam came back in, joining with Cure Solar to fire a blast of Light and Fire at the Vish from above. The blast struck home, and the Vish let out a pained roar as it staggered from the hit, but it didn't go down. Its red eyes glowed and fired a pair of thin laser-like beams of dark power, sweeping them in an attempt to land a hit, but the girls got through with nothing more than a brief grazing hit to Cure Solar's skirt. Cures Terra and Gale, meanwhile, threw blasts of Earth and Wind magic at Black Heart, who leapt and rolled to dodge their attacks and returned fire with blasts of dark magic, forcing them to defend themselves rather than press their attack. Cure Volt came in from behind with Spark Saber in hand, while Cure Hydro sent out spears of ice at the Vish, and Volt managed to land a shallow, partially-dodged slash across Black Heart's back while the Vish lost an eye to one of Hydro's spears.

Cures Terra and Gale switched places, the latter moving to assist Hydro & Volt against Black Heart while the former joined Gleam & Solar against the Vish. Cure Gleam stunned the Vish with light-arrow to the face, giving Cures Terra & Solar time to charge up their elemental energies and then combine their powers, Earth and Fire together. They fired their combined attack, and the resulting 'Lava Bomb' slammed into the Vish, exploding with concussive force and engulfing the monster in molten rock. The beast roared and flailed, but soon its movements weakened and stopped, and it collapsed.

However, as the dead Vish disintegrated, instead of winking out of existence the motes of darkness suddenly swirled around the three Cures who'd taken it down. The energy suddenly expanded, solidified, and now Gleam, Terra, & Solar found themselves trapped in a dark-magic cage. Startled, they tried to break free, but the 'bars' withstood blasts of Light and Fire, while the Earth beneath the cage refused to follow Cure Terra's will.

"What have you done to them?!" Cure Volt snarled at Black Heart.

"Divide and conquer" the dark commander replied. "I'll have an easier time killing you girls three at a time rather than trying to handle you all at once. Once I've dealt with you three, I'll take care of them."

"You assume it will be that easy to take us down…" Cure Hydro formed a water whip.

She, Volt, and Gale pressed the attack, coming at Black Heart from different directions. The evil lady spun to avoid a lash from Cure Hydro's water whip, then ducked to dodge a wind blade from Cure Gale. She raised an arm wreathed in dark magic to block a strike from Cure Volt's Spark Saber, and winced as a numbing effect spread through that limb. She kicked Volt away, and then got a little distance and went on the defensive while she waited for the feeling to return to her arm.

Black Heart conjured a large orb of darkness power, held it high, and then it exploded into a storm of dark-magic projectiles in all directions. The three Cures scrambled to avoid the blasts, Volt using her Lightning blade to deflect some of them, though they all took a few hits. Before the barrage had completely abated, Cure Hydro rushed in at Black Heart, conjuring a mass of water. She hit Black Heart with it, dealing little damage but leaving her dripping-wet… and then Cure Volt came in with the follow-up, releasing a blast of Lightning magic against her soaked enemy. Black Heart cried out as the powerful shock hit her, twitching and seizing as the boosted electrical magic ran across & through her.

An inhuman snarl came from Black Heart's throat, her eyes glowing red. She dashed in and hit Cure Volt with a blow that would've mulched a normal human's head, sending the green-clad Cure flying to smack into a tree hard enough to almost knock the tree over. Before she could follow up with her attack, Hydro & Gale moved in with blades of Wind and Ice, pressing in and landing a few blows before Black Heart forced them back. Cure Volt was soon back on her feet, and Gale & Hydro regrouped with her.

"It doesn't look like a two-person combo attack is enough" Cure Gale remarked.

"…Then why not try the next level up?" Cure Volt suggested. "I got an idea…"

After a moment's discussion, the three Cures charged in, Cure Gale leading with Hydro & Volt close behind. And as Black Heart prepared for a Wind-based attack, the girls' feint proved successful as Cure Volt moved in while Gale & Hydro magically shielded their eyes. Black Heart cried out in shocked pain as a blinding flash went off right in her face, staggering back and clutching at her face; her magic would repair her eyes, but it would take a moment… more time than she had.

Cures Volt, Gale, & Hydro took a rough triangle formation about 10 meters out from the disabled Black Heart, gathering large amounts of their respective Element magics. Just as Black Heart's vision had repaired itself enough for her to make out basic details, the three Cures released their attacks, which combined into a massive and powerful merged mass of triple-type elemental energy. Wind, Water, and Lightning formed a tearing vortex that completely engulfed Black Heart, spinning faster as it tightened and compressed, crackles of lightning building up…

" _PreCure: Tri-Force Hurricane!-!_ "

The storm of triple-type magic turned into a rage, trapping their target inside a core of raging lightning and slicing wind and intensely powerful offensive magic. Black Heart's scream was soon cut off as she was torn apart by the three magic warriors' combined powers, the barely-contained magic continuing to whirl and rage for a moment longer before dissipating in a burst of wind, mist, and static electricity. The dark-magic cage imprisoning Cures Gleam, Terra, & Solar disintegrated, proof that Black Heart was no more.

"Two down…" Cure Terra remarked.

"I don't think the rest will be too happy about that" Cure Volt said. "They might up their game now."

"Eh," Cure Gale replied, "we can take 'em. …Probably."

"Don't tempt fate, Amelia…" Cure Solar murmured.

 **-** ** _BREAK_** **-**

A few hours later, the girls were relaxing at the park together. Suddenly, their peaceful relaxed mood was smashed by sensing an abrupt flare in dark magic energy and killing intent that sent a chill down their spines. They promptly transformed, looking around and trying to pinpoint where the threat was. They barely detected an incoming 'cannonball' of dark power coming in from above, leaping away from the blast zone just as the resulting explosion left a crater where they'd been standing.

Their assailant soon showed himself, and the girls were surprised; normally, Black Spade seemed lazy and listless and not willing to put more than the bare minimum off effort into anything, seeming like 'bored disinterest' was the only emotion he ever showed. But now, he looked _furious_ , a black aura surging around him, markedly stronger than either of the other deceased Black Card Quartet members had displayed.

"You wretched brats…" he snarled. "You killed my _sister_! I'm going to tear you limb from limb!-!"

Black Spade fired highly concentrated blasts of Darkness energy at Cures Gleam and Gale, and while they reacted he went for Cure Hydro while summoning a sizable dark-purple blade lined with blood-red serrations. Hydro quickly formed an ice blade and blocked Black Spade's opening swing, her weapon being cut through almost halfway through. She leapt back to dodge a follow-up strike, and he made a feint toward her only to suddenly shift to his real next target; Cure Volt barely reacted in time to avoid being chopped in half.

Cure Solar fired a concussive flame blast at Black Spade, but he used his sword as a bat to smack the blast away, and Sunset barely managed to duck and avoid being nailed in the face by her own attack. Cures Gleam & Terra tried to attack Spade from both sides at once, but he caught their Element-charged fists, shifted his grip to their wrists, and then slammed the two girls into each other like cymbals before they could react, stunning them; Cure Hydro barely pulled them away in time from a follow-up strike aimed at their necks.

The girls tried to get some distance, and Cures Gale & Volt fired blasts of Wind and Lightning energy at Black Spade. They hit, but he didn't seem to take much damage, growling as he shrugged off the pain. He then brought his arms up to block a combined Light/Fire blast from Gleam & Solar, being shoved back but coming through almost-totally unharmed. Before they could follow up, Black Spade went on the offensive, stabbing and slashing at Cure Volt, who gave ground as she frantically dodged and blocked his strikes.

A Wind/Fire attack from Solar & Gale engulfed Black Spade in flames fed & enhanced by wind that was made of slicing blades of air. He didn't even wait for the attack to finish before releasing a wave of Darkness power that blew the attack away, emerging from the tearing flames with only a little damage. Then, Black Spade held his arms out and released an all-directions shockwave of dark power that sent the girls reeling, the malevolent energies stunning them. He then pointed his hands high and released a _massive_ number of Darkness energy bolts, leaving them hanging in the air. Then, he swept his arms down, and the barrage of dark-magic projectiles rained down on the Cures like a hellish hailstorm, overwhelming the girls' defenses and hammering them into the dirt, continuing to bombard them from above even after they were already downed.

When the barrage finally cut off, the six Cures were battered & beaten on the ground, their costumes tattered and torn, their bodies bruised and bloodied. After a few seconds, Cure Gleam groaned as she slowly, unsteadily got up into a kneeling position, trying to stand up on shaky legs. She glared at Black Spade, who softly laughed as a smug smirk sprang up on his face.

"You're still trying to fight me? I just took all six of you down at once; what do you hope to accomplish against me all by yourself? Alone, you are all _weak_."

Glaring at her foe, Cure Gleam tried to charge up her magic, but Black Spade came up and smacked her aside, sending her staggering back.

"Enough" he said. "You're too weak to do _anything_ against me alone. Just give in and _die_ already."

"It doesn't matter if she's ever not strong enough to beat an enemy on her own…" Cure Volt growled as she struggled to her feet. "She's got _us_ to help her."

The other four Cures got back up, ready to fight and to help Cure Gleam despite the damage they'd taken.

"…I may seem weak to you…" Cure Gleam said, "but that's because you don't understand where I get my strength from. It doesn't matter if I'm not strong enough on my own; I get all the power I need from my _friends_!"

Black Spade started laughing. "Your _friends_? You think 'friendship' gives you power?!"

"You laugh because you just don't understand. They're everything to me… We never lie to or deceive each other; we show kindness and caring, understanding each other; we stand by each other, no matter what; we give to each other whenever any of us needs anything; we make each other smile and laugh… We give each other strength and courage! And that gives us the magic we need to fight and _win_! Because our friendship _is_ magic!-!"

Suddenly, warmth and light burst forth, as a massive wellspring of Light power enveloped the six Cures. Motes of light in different colors swirled around each girl, and then coalesced into beautiful differently-shaped gems encased in shining gold, overflowing with raw magical power. Orange light darkened in shade, an apple-shamed gem shifting into the shape of a spire of stone, as Cure Terra became the new bearer of Honesty. Hot-pink light turned sky-blue, a balloon-shaped gemstone taking on a swirled shape like a simplified tornado, as Laughter bonded itself to Cure Gale. White light shifted into deep blue, a diamond-shaped gemstone changing to a teardrop shape, as Cure Hydro acquired the power of Generosity. Bright blue light shifted into vibrant red, a lightning-bolt shape transforming into a sun, as the shocked Cure Solar was chosen as the new Loyalty. Pale-pink light became light green, a butterfly turning into a lightning bolt, as Cure Volt obtained the essence of Kindness. And a six-pointed star & its light changed from purple to pink, as Magic/Friendship bequeathed itself to Cure Gleam.

Cure Solar was in astonished awe. "E… Earth's Elements of… Harmony…"

Shocked and wary, Black Spade growled and fired a strong blast of Darkness at the girls. However, the six Harmony Elements glowed together, and a multi-hued Shield spell formed and effortlessly withstood the attack. The gems then floated up to their new wielders, and Cure Gleam gained a determined expression.

"Okay, girls," she said as brilliant multicolored light engulfed the Cures, "let's do this!"

(TRANSFORMATION & FINISHER MUSIC: _DokiDoki PreCure_ : "Royal Lovely Straight Flush")

As the one crown and five necklaces took their places on their respective bearers, beautiful light flowed out of the gems and wrapped around the Cures. The lining of their outfits became glittering golden, and portions of shining silver and pristine white appeared amongst their outfit's normal colors. Each girl had two long ribbons extend down & back from their lower backs, twirled together in a way that looked sort of like a tail. The gems in the center of their chest-bows became larger and shone brighter, and tiaras formed on the girls' foreheads, each bearing a same-colored ovoid gem in the middle.

Black Spade stared in frightened shock as the six Element PreCures awakened their new Harmony Forms. As one, they turned their gazes to him, their eyes glowing bright white as Light power gathered within and around them. Spade took a step back, but then snarled as he gathered his wits, and began charging a very large amount of Darkness power. In response, the girls came together, floating off the ground as a rainbow of Light energy began to coalesce into a large, blinding white long, thin mass of destructive Light magic. Two masses of power grew larger and stronger, the air swirling around the battlefield, energy crackling through the air.

"Disappear!" Black Spade roared. " _Shadow Calamity!-!_ "

He threw his hands forward, releasing a beam of purple & black energy nearly five feet thick, surging through the air towards the PreCures. In response, the girls each pointed a hand at Spade and his attack, and the mass of Light magic between them solidified into a defined shape and grew even brighter, as they called out:

" _PreCure: Shining Harmony Arrow!-!_ "

The massive arrow of Light magic, the energies of the Harmony Elements condensed into a single all-piercing bolt, shot forward with great force. Hitting Black Spade's beam, it penetrated right down the middle of the dark power, piercing through it and following it right down to its source before he could react. Black Spade's expression barely had time to change from rage to shock before the attack hit.

A huge rainbow-hued explosion went off with Black Spade at the center. The dark commander's final cry was quickly cut off as the massively powerful Light magic of the Elements of Harmony boosted by Pretty Cure power annihilated his pure-Darkness body, tearing him asunder on a microscopic scale within seconds.

(MUSIC END)

The girls floated back down to the ground, the glow around them fading as the power settled down.

"I… I can't believe it…" Cure Solar murmured. "This world's Elements of Harmony chose us… _I'm_ an Element-Bearer…"

"We should probably tell Princess Twilight about this" Cure Volt said. "Boy, is she in for a surprise…"

"And now there's only one 'dark commander' left," Cure Hydro observed, "plus the Dark King & Queen."

"Which means they'll probably get more desperate" Cure Terra chimed in. "We're starting to back them into a corner."

"Whatever they throw at us," Cure Gleam said, "I think our chances of winning just got better."

 **-** ** _CHAPTER END_** **-**

...My will to actually finish this fic is pretty much all dried up. Within the next few days, probably, I'm just going to post what remains of my typed-up outline for the rest of the story. Though, if enough of you say otherwise, I might "just" put it on indefinite hiatus, maybe pick it up again months or years in the future.

I really should put more effort into trying to find a safe (i.e., no viruses or tracking cookies or other malware) way to watch the 'DokiDoki', 'Happiness Charge', 'Go Princess', and 'Mahou Tsukai' Pretty Cure seasons, so I can make a Teana's Travels book out of them. If I can't, though, Travels is going to remain on hiatus until Kingdom Hearts III comes out...


End file.
